The US Coast Guard with Philippine Coast Guard vessels launched what it called a “joint patrol” between May 28 and May 30 in Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal), a rich fishing ground located roughly 220 kilometers off the coast of Zambales.

This US “patrol” “drilled” the Philippine coast guard in visit, board, search and seizure operations (against vessels considered “enemy” or criminals at sea), maritime interdiction, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) strongly condemned the US Coast Guard’s “training”,” calling it blatant interference and a US provocation that fuels conflicts and tensions in the Philippines’ maritime waters.

“What is the US Coast Guard doing in waters thousands of miles from its own shores that it should be guarding?” CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena asked. “What other purpose could it have but to fan the conflict between China and the Philippines so they have a pretext to intervene and send more military forces?”

The US Coast Guard’s patrol of Bajo de Masinloc violates the wishes of Filipinos, especially poor fisherfolk, for peaceful and diplomatic resolution of maritime disputes between the Philippines and China, Valbuena said.

“Instead of reducing the presence of armed forces around that shoal to defend the rights of small Filipino fisherfolk, it made peaceful navigation and fishing there harder, even impossible,” Valbuena added.

To justify prolonging the US Coast Guard presence, the AFP is spreading having found a allegedly China-built “unconfirmed structure”. This “raw information” is being fed to the media by Defense Sec. Gilbert Teodoro and the AFP, and originates from the US firm SeaLight and its director Ray Powell.

“Teodoro and AFP officials are really the US’s sycophantic bulldogs,” Valbuena said. “They quickly follow US orders. After all, they are dependent on their imperialist masters for weapons, funds, and advice. They have never represented the Filipino people’s interests.”

Bajo de Masinloc is at the center of a heated dispute because China, the Philippines, and Taiwan all claim ownership. Although it lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) made no ruling on ownership of the rocks that made up the shoal because the its jurisdiction covers maritime entitlements only, not sovereignty over islands or land.

The PCA declared the waters around the shoal as traditional fishing grounds of small Filipino, Chinese, and Vietnamese fishers.