PH is not afraid of the presence of the “monster”.

MANILA, Philippines. Philippine maritime authorities confirmed on Wednesday that they will not accept China’s attempts to “normalize” its acts of intimidation in the West Philippine Sea by stationing the Monster, its largest coast guard ship, in the area.

“You have to see the presence of the monster ship as a reaction to our legislation on archipelagic sea lanes and maritime zones,” Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, spokesman for the Philippine Navy in the West Philippine Sea, told the Inquirer.

Trinidad was referring to the Philippine Maritime Zones Act and the Philippine Sea Routes Act, which President Marcos signed into law in November.

READ: PH approves maritime zones, angering China

“We introduced laws. They countered. And now they perform. That’s how simple it is,” Trinidad said.

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China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday that the monster ship, named China Coast Guard (CCG) 5901, was simply obeying the law because the waters belong to Beijing’s “sovereign” territory.

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But Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman for the Philippine Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea, said intimidation “has always been part of China’s game” and has been applied to other countries as well.

Maritime security expert Ray Powell previously reported that Beijing also used CCG 5901 in 2024 to intimidate Vietnam by invading Hanoi’s oil and gas fields in the South China Sea.

The year before, CCG 5901 had been dispatched to intimidate Indonesia by invading Jakarta’s exclusive economic zone in the Natuna North Sea.

“Their goal is to normalize this kind of deployment, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will allow them to change the existing status quo,” Tarriela said.

An ordinary play

“This strategy of normalization, followed by a change in the status quo and ultimately the operation of their illegitimate narrative, has always been part of the Chinese play,” he added.

Tarriela said the BRP Teresa Magbanua was one of the two boats Manila dispatched to permanently counter the presence of CCG 5901 off the coast of Zambales.

But maritime authorities have stressed that they still consider such incursions a threat to the country’s sovereignty, even if it is just a submersible drone like the one found by fishermen in Masbate in December.

“Whether it’s a commercial or a military specification, we will always see it as a threat to our sovereignty,” Deputy Defense Secretary Ignacio Madriaga told senators on Wednesday.

Security officials believe the drone was Chinese, but no country has claimed ownership of the equipment.

Deputy Foreign Minister Eduardo de Vega said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not sent any requests to other countries for ownership of the drone.

“We didn’t send a note to ask, ‘Is this yours?’ But we have not received any information as expected from any foreign country to claim ownership of the drone,” he said.

Asked if the Chinese government would allow marine scientific research in its territorial waters if asked, De Vega said: “Very doubtful, given that we have problems with them. If China asks, I would not refuse. But this is extremely doubtful,” he said. — with reporting by Jacob Lazaro