Atin Ito volunteers board M/V Kapitan Felix Oca to prep for 3rd WPS civilian mission

Volunteers from the Atin Ito Coalition have boarded on Sunday the vessel that would sail to the West Philippine Sea for a third civilian mission.

The volunteers embarked the M/V Kapitan Felix Oca, which was set to depart Manila at 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 25, for El Nido, Palawan.

A pre-departure musical event will be held in El Nido on Monday, and from there, the ship will proceed to the general vicinity of Pag-asa Island on Tuesday for a sea concert calling for peace and solidarity.

Volunteers have been setting up the concert stage and preparing materials for participants on M/V Kapitan Felix Oca.

Among the performers expected to participate in the third Atin Ito civilian mission are Ebe Dancel, all-women rock band Rouge, rap collective Morobeats, and P-pop group HORI7ON, Japanese artist Fumi, Indonesian and Malaysian musicians Viona and Kai Mata, as well as South Korean K-pop girl group I:Mond.

Aside from musicians, the third Atin Ito civilian mission will also include artists, fisherfolk, and civil society leaders from the Philippines and neighboring countries to promote peace, dialogue, and cultural exchange.

“We aim to uplift coastal communities by amplifying the lived experiences and aspirations of our fisherfolk, and to foster regional harmony through shared cultural and maritime narratives. We will sail not with warships, but with songs; not with hostility, but with harmony and solidarity,” Atin Ito convenor Rafaela David said.

Earlier, the Philippine Navy said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) welcomes such support from a civic group and is ready to provide assistance to the third civilian mission to WPS.

Atin Ito's first civilian mission was held in December 2023, when its Christmas convoy slipped past Chinese vessels and arrived at Lawak Island, part of the Kalayaan Island Group of Palawan, to deliver gifts to Filipino soldiers patrolling the area.

The group was supposed to go to Ayungin Shoal where the BRP Sierra Madre has been intentionally grounded, but Atin Ito altered the convoy's route after China Coast Guard used its water cannon against Philippine vessels on a routine resupply and rotation mission to the dilapidated ship.

In May 2024, Atin Ito conducted its second civilian mission to WPS, reaching Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) despite a blockade of Chinese vessels to deliver provisions to Filipino fishermen in the area. 

To recall, the Philippine government sued China before an international arbitral tribunal in The Hague in 2013. It ruled in favor of the Philippines in July 2016 when it junked China's nine-dash claim over the South China Sea.

China, however, rejected the Philippines’ call to comply with the 2016 arbitration ruling, calling the decision “illegal and invalid.” —KG, GMA Integrated News