China blasts BFAR ship with water cannon

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September 17, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — A vessel of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) yesterday sustained damage after being blasted with water cannons by the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) near Panatag Shoal.

One of the BFAR crew was injured by shattered glass.

The BRP Datu Gumbay Piang was conducting the “Kadiwa para sa Bagong Bayaning Mangingisda” supply mission with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) when two CCG vessels engaged it in separate water cannon attacks.

The Datu Gumbay Piang managed to regroup with nine other BFAR vessels to continue delivering fuel and supplies to Filipino fishermen.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is not letting its guard down and is keeping a close watch over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, even if it believes that China’s plan to establish a “national nature reserve” is only meant for its internal audience.

“There will be no let-up in the conduct of maritime patrols and air surveillance flights,” Philippine Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea (WPS) Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad said yesterday.

Asked about the possibility of China building artificial structures in the shoal, he said, “Historically, malign influence has always been that – influence operations with no action.”

“Look at the nine-dash line and the China Coast Guard (CCG) Law. These are pronouncements to justify their illegal presence and coercive and aggressive actions. All of them have no basis in international law and are not accepted by the international community,” he maintained.

Control measures enforced by the People’s Liberation Army Navy, CCG or maritime militia within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone are illegal, he emphasized.

Trinidad belied China’s claims that the Philippines is acting as a proxy for foreign powers through naval drills with partner nations, such as Japan and the United States.

“We are the proxy of international law in the WPS. We are the proxy of the rules-based international order and all other countries that support a free and open maritime domain in the South China Sea,” he asserted.

If National Security Adviser Eduardo Año’s remark becomes true that China’s plan is a pretext to occupation, Trinidad refused to delve into details, but maintained that the AFP “knows what to do.”

Food security

Meanwhile, destructive coral and giant clam harvesting, dredging and land reclamation for military bases in the WPS will have catastrophic consequences on food security, according to a study by the University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UPCIDS).

“Permanent damage to the reefs… will have catastrophic consequences for the food security of all claimant states, including China,” the report said.

The Spratly Islands could be the source of coral and fish larvae that repopulate reefs elsewhere in the region, hence “keeping the stocks of coral reef fish from suffering local extinction,” it noted.

“We need to have a binding international agreement to conserve and protect the South China Sea and WPS,” the study stressed.

The proposed marine peace park remains viable if all states bordering the WPS basin have a cooperative will, it said.

“If all Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries agree and get on board with the marine park proposal, they will get significant international support and China will have to take notice,” it added.

In Africa, transnational peace parks have proven successful, but “the problem is China has claimed most of the sea as its sovereign territory in violation of international law,” researchers noted.

“Although China has been using naval gray zone tactics in pursuing its territorial claims, any miscalculation… could result in war,” they added.

“Chinese policies of de-escalating or escalating maritime access denial are dependent on the presence of other maritime powers in the region and a changing regional alliance security environment,” they explained.

Overfishing, meanwhile, has been a problem in the WPS since the second world war, researchers noted.

As for dredging for land reclamation, researchers saw “reefs that have been totally clouded out by white sediment.” — Michael Punongbayan, Bella Cariaso, Evelyn Macairan