Teodoro: Marcos taking the collision incident off Ayungin Shoal 'very seriously'

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said Monday that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has been taking very seriously the latest collision incident off Ayungin Shoal.

"The President is taking this very seriously. And the President... well that's it, he's taking this very very seriously so much so that he called a special command conference this morning," Teodoro said during a Palace press briefing.

Marcos earlier directed the Philippine Coast Guard to conduct an investigation into the incident where a China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel collided with a Philippine resupply boat off Ayungin Shoal.

The President called for a command conference to discuss China's latest violation in the resource-rich region, according to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) on Monday.

For its part, the PCG said the conduct of the investigation would take five days.

Philippine officials have said the collision occurred on Sunday while two Philippine supply boats escorted by two Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessels were heading to Ayungin Shoal to deliver food and other supplies to the grounded Philippine warship BRP Sierra Madre.

China, for its part, claimed that the supply vessel "trespassed" into Chinese waters "without authorization" despite repeated radio warnings to leave.

The Department of  Foreign Affairs has already summoned the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines and it also lodged a diplomatic protest following the incident. 

'Stop provocations'

A Chinese Embassy official, meanwhile, told the Philippine government to "stop making provocations at sea" amid the latest collision in the region.

"China once again urges the Philippines to take seriously China’s grave concerns, honor its promise, stop making provocations at sea, stop making dangerous moves, stop groundlessly attacking and slandering China," Chinese Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Zhou Zhiyong said in a statement.

Zhou said he conveyed "strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition of the Chinese side to the Philippine side over its vessels’ intrusion over its so-called waters."

For his part, Teodoro called the incident a "blatant violation of international law."

"China has no legal right or authority to conduct law enforcement operations in our territorial waters and in our exclusive economic zone. We are taking this incident seriously at a highest level of government," he said. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News