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Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star
May 13, 2026 | 12:00am
A Chinese tugboat of the People’s Liberation Army Navy sails in the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal near the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in this image taken in August 2025.
STAR / File
MANILA, Philippines — Fifteen warships and 20 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats roamed four key locations in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) during the past week.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), in a report yesterday, said the vessels were spotted and monitored by the Philippine Navy from May 4 to 11.
Most of the Chinese vessels were seen in the vicinity of Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc – eight People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy warships and nine CCG boats.
Three military vessels and three coast guard ships were spotted in the area of Pag-asa Island; three warships and two CCG vessels in the area of Escoda (Sabina) Shoal and one military vessel and six CCG boats in the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal.
Last month, the AFP reported a total of 62 PLA Navy and coast guard vessels spotted roaming and patrolling the same four areas in the WPS during the whole month of April.
The military said such presence continues to show the illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive activities of China inside the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.
Retired rear admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, AFP reservist and spokesman for the WPS, nevertheless reassured the public that the “AFP will keep performing its mandate of securing our sovereignty and sovereign rights by performing patrols by sea and by air.”
During the recently concluded Balikatan Exercises which included maritime training activities in the WPS, he said there were no recorded coercive and aggressive actions by China.
“What we have noticed was the same narrative given out that they performed combat exercises in the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc. But upon checking, what we noted was the presence of PLA Navy ships and Chinese Coast Guard and the occasional presence of a PLA Air Force,” Trinidad explained.
“There was no noted synchronized activity that would symbolize any exercise being conducted. The pattern that we have noticed is that for every activity we conduct, every action we conduct, there are narratives being given out by the Chinese Communist Party, also saying that they are conducting exercises of their own. No such exercise by the PLA has been monitored,” he said.
