BRP Sierra Madre
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DFA belies alleged PH’s pull-out from Ayungin Shoal
The Department of Foreign Affairs today issued a statement to belie China’s allegation that the country has agreed to pull-out of the Ayungin Shoal. In a remote corner of the South China Sea, 105 nautical miles from the Philippines, lies a submerged reef that Filipinos call Ayungin. In most ways it resembles the hundreds of other reefs, islands, rock clusters…
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Second Thomas Shoal Tensions Intensify
The U.S. has criticized China for provoking the Philippines in the Second Thomas Shoal even as Manila air-lifted supplies to its marines stationed on the disputed reef. On Sunday, Chinese coast guard vessels blocked two Filipino civilian vessels from resupplying marines located on the Second Thomas Shoal, which the Philippines calls the Ayungin Shoal and China refers to as the…
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China drives away PH ships from disputed shoal
BRP Sierra Madre, China, Diplomatic Relations, Philippines, Second Thomas shoal, South China Sea Dispute, WarBEIJING – China said on Monday that its coast guard ships had driven away two Philippine that which had tried to approach a shoal in the South China Sea in the latest flare-up of a long-running territorial dispute. The Chinese ships were patrolling waters around Second Thomas Shoal, known in China as the Ren’ai reef, when they spotted the Philippine…
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After Typhoon Haiyan, a Dispatch From the South China Sea
Shortly after we published our article in the Oct. 27 issue about the Filipino marines stationed on a forsaken boat in the South China Sea, Typhoon Haiyan devastated the central Philippines. In the wake of the storm it became clear that thousands of Filipinos had died. The photographer Ashley Gilberston and I were naturally concerned about the guys we lived with on…
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Why does PH need to secure Ayungin, Scarborough?
Ayungin Shoal, Bajo de Masinloc, BRP Sierra Madre, China, Fishing Rights, Interaksyon, Kalayaan Island Group, Military, Philippines, Scarborough Shoal, South China Sea DisputeThe rusty BRP Sierra Madre has been an effective deterrence against further Chinese incursion into Philippine territorial claims. FILE PHOTO BY ABIGAIL KWOK (Editor’s note: Jose Antonio A. Custodio is a security and defense consultant and was a technical adviser for a US defense company working for the US Pacific Command. He also specializes in military history and has post-graduate…