PCG: China jammed signal during WPS patrol

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Monday accused China of jamming signals while Filipino vessels were conducting maritime patrol near Bajo de Masinloc in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

“The Starlink connection ng ating barko ng Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and even the Philippine Coast Guard vessel MRRV 4409 ay nawawalan ng signal,” PCG spokesperson for WPS Commodore Jay Tarriela said during a virtual interview.

“I’d like to believe that there is signal jamming that the People's Republic of China is doing because we monitor that for our vessels every time that we go near or go inside a radius of 24 nautical miles and closer sa Bajo de Masinloc, ito yung mga pagkakataon na nawawala yung starlink signal natin,” he added.

(This was the time when we were losing Starlink signal.)

The disruption could delay information transmission and compromise communication between vessels and monitoring units, Tarriela said.

GMA News Online sought comment from the Chinese Embassy in Manila but it has yet to respond as of posting time.

According to Tarriela, this was the first time such an incident happened.

“This is the first time that we were able to experience itong signal jamming ng aming Starlink internet connection. As I said, it's not just something that the PCG also monitored. Ito rin ay naranasan ng apat na Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources [vessels] during this particular mission,” he said.

(This is the first time that we experienced this signal jamming of our Starlink internet connection. As I said, it's not just something that the PCG monitored. This was also experienced by the four BFAR vessels during this particular mission.)

Tarriela said the incident occurred during a maritime domain awareness (MDA) operation conducted after they monitored a large number of Filipino fishing boats operating in the area.

According to Tarriela, the PCG deployed a Coast Guard Islander aircraft, BRP Cabra and BRP Garbiela Silang, while the BFAR sent four vessels to provide safety assistance, fuel subsidies, and ice to Filipino fishermen.

Around 35 Filipino fishing boats were seen in the area.

During the mission, the PCG monitored three China Coast Guard vessels about 33.6 nautical miles from Bajo de Masinloc and a People’s Liberation Army Navy warship with bow number 554 approximately 60 nautical miles off the coast of Zambales.

Tarriela said the PCG would implement necessary contingencies should the signal interference continue but he declined to disclose operational details. —RF, GMA Integrated News