Soldiers' supplies airdropped on Patag Island for Balikatan 2024

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) has conducted airdrop drills for the military troops stationed at Patag Island in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) as part of the 2024 Balikatan exercises, according to Chino Gaston's story Thursday on 24 Oras.

For this activity, food supplies and essential goods were packed inside boxes and airdropped to military personnel using an NC212i cargo plane.

The airdrop drills were conducted on April 27, five days after nearly 17,000 troops from the Philippines and the United States commenced the Balikatan joint military exercises.

Patag Island is one of nine features and islands with military outputs inside the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said that aside from airdropping supplies, RORE missions are in the pipeline using Philippine Navy ships.

"We saw an opportunity to embed this in the Balikatan exercises as part of the training," said AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla.

The National Security Council (NSC) earlier said that airdropping of supplies could be a safer alternative to RORE missions on the sea as Chinese ships have repeatedly impeded the voyage of Filipino vessels.

China's 'recording'

Meanwhile, the AFP reiterated Thursday that it would not dignify China's claims that it agreed to "a new model" for conduct in the Ayungin Shoal, saying audio recordings could be manufactured with deep fake technology.

"We do not dignify the claim of the Chinese Embassy as an assessment, sir, this is propaganda ng China... unverified and questionable 'yung source. We do not want... na pag-usapan pa ito all throughout. For us sir, kung ano ang internal namin na protocols sa military, we will act accordingly," said Padilla.

(We do not dignify the claim of the Chinese Embassy. This is propaganda as the source was unverified and questionable. We do not want to discuss it all throughout. We will act accordingly based on our internal protocols in the military.)

The Department of Foreign Affairs likewise warned against "falling for false narratives" amid the reported threat to release "unverifiable recordings" concerning the aforementioned "new model."

For his part, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lin Jian said Manila's denial of Beijing's claims has been backfiring on the Philippines.

"The Philippines has insisted on denying these objective facts and seeks to mislead the international community. This hurts its own credibility and puts peace and stability in the South China Sea in jeopardy," said Zhao.

Vienna Convention

As this developed, retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said that if the Chinese Embassy did make such a recording, this violates of Philippine laws and the Vienna Convention.

"(The) Vienna Convention requires foreign diplomats in the Philippines to follow Philippine Law. Now, if they violate, they may be immune from prosecution (but) that's a ground to expel them," said Carpio.

The Philippines has repeatedly called out China over its repeated aggression in the West Philippine Sea, acts which include ramming and firing of water cannons at Philippine vessels.

Tensions between China and the Philippines have heightened in recent months as both sides have trade accusations over a series of incidents in the WPS.

China claims most of the South China Sea, parts of which are also claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The July 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling issued by an international tribunal upheld the Philippines' 200-nautical mile EEZ, outlawed Chinese aggression in the common fishing ground of Scarborough Shoal, and rejected China's expansive nine-dash-line claim of the South China Sea. — Sundy Locus/ VDV, GMA Integrated News