PH aircraft encounters ‘provocative’ China PLAAF over Scarborough

By Priam Nepomuceno, Philippine News Agency

FILE: BALIKATAN 2024. AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. speaks at the opening rites of the Balikatan 2024 in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City on Monday (April 22, 2024). (Photo: Armed Forces of the Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA – Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. on Saturday condemned the “dangerous and provocative actions” of China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) which harassed a Filipino aircraft conducting maritime patrols over Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal).

“On 8 August 2024, a Philippine Air Force (PAF) NC-212i aircraft was conducting a routine maritime patrol over Bajo de Masinloc when two aircraft from the PLAAF executed a dangerous maneuver at around 9 a.m. and dropped flares in the path of our NC-212i,” he said in a statement.

The NC-212i safely returned to Clark Air Base in Pampanga about an hour later and nobody was harmed, Brawner said.

The AFP did not specify the type or designation of the PLAAF aircraft.

Brawner said it posed a threat to the PAF aircraft and its crew and interfered with lawful flight operations within Philippine sovereignty and jurisdiction.

He added that the actions of the PLAAF yet again contravened international law and regulations governing safety of aviation.

The incident has been reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and other relevant government agencies.

“We reaffirm our commitment to exercise our rights in accordance with international law, particularly UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and the Chicago Convention (on International Civil Aviation),” Brawner said.

Amid multiple harassments experienced by Filipinos on the West Philippine Sea, the Philippines and China agreed on a provisional arrangement in rotation and reprovisioning missions to the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, the DFA announced in July

In a statement, the DFA said both sides concurred that the agreement “will not prejudice each other’s positions in the South China Sea.”

Days later, civilian vessel MV Lapu-Lapu, escorted by the Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Cape Engaño, conducted a resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre without untoward incidents.