Philippines stands its ground against a more assertive China in West Philippine Sea

Yearender

MANILA, Philippines — While China became bolder in its claims over the entire South China Sea to the point of hurting Filipino civilians, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) remained firm in defending the country’s sovereign rights in the portion called West Philippine Sea.

In the past year, not only did vessels of the China Coast Guard (CCG) and Chinese maritime militia swarm features in the West Philippine Sea, but also warships and aircraft from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy and Chinese research vessels.

A majority of CCG ships monitored by the PCG sailed a portion of the West Philippine Sea near the shores of Zambales, particularly surrounding the Panatag or Scarborough Shoal that is also locally called Bajo de Masinloc.

They were also detected in other areas including Pag-asa Island and Escoda or Sabina Shoal, both considered as critical for the assertion of Philippine sovereign rights.

In January 2025, Chinese forces disrupted the maritime survey performed by PCG and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, as well as blocked efforts to retrieve the body of a Filipino fisherman found lifeless inside his boat off the coast of Zambales.

There came episodes of water cannon attacks mainly by CCG ships in May, June, August, September and the latest in December 2025, when three Filipino fishermen anchoring near Escoda Shoal sustained injuries after CCG and Chinese maritime militia blasted water cannons toward Filipino fishing boats to drive them away.

Before that attack that endangered the safety of Filipino fishermen, PLA Navy warships also announced live fire drills that also sought to force them to leave, but did not push through.

In China’s assertion of its claims in the South China Sea, CCG ship 3104 and PLA Navy vessel 164 crashed against each other while the Chinese vessel was going after PCG’s 44-meter ship BRP Suluan in the area of Panatag Shoal in August 2025, which flattened the CCG ship’s bow.

Aside from Chinese coast guard, military and militia ships, Chinese research vessels were also spotted intruding the West Philippine Sea, even sailing very close to the shores of Luzon and Batanes. Along with the presence of the Chinese research ships were found underwater drones suspected to have come from them.

Despite another year of aggression by China, PCG officers onboard patrol ships deployed in the West Philippine Sea persisted in driving them away through radio challenges that lectured Chinese forces that they intruded the area as indicated in Republic Act 12064 or the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the landmark 2016 arbitral award.

Also, PCG Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman on West Philippine Sea issues, maintained his agency would “refuse to use the water cannon because moment you use that, you’re going to give an opportunity for the People’s Republic of China to justify the next level of aggression.”

“We have to maintain the moral high ground to show the international community that China is the one bullying,” he said in a television interview in August 2025.

As China became bolder in its claims in the South China Sea, the PCG and other agencies and institutions launched more initiatives to educate more Filipinos about the country’s sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea.

They included the launch of the comic book “Ang mga Kuwento ni Teacher Jun,” and the premiere of the documentary film “Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea” in Philippine cinemas.

The film, which was pulled from a local film festival in March 2025, irked China after it won the top prize at a film festival in New Zealand months after.