Will Gibo starve our Sierra Madre troops?

LATE in the evening last September 24, three Philippine Navy and Coast Guard ships escorted a civilian vessel, the MV Lapu-Lapu, for a “rotation and resupply” (RORE) mission for Filipino troops marooned at the BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin Shoal, known as Ren’ai Jiao in Chinese and internationally as Second Thomas Shoal.

It was an unusual hour for a RORE mission, to say the least, as previously, it has always been conducted during daylight.

Sixty nautical miles (111 kilometers) away from Ayungin Shoal, 5 Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) ships and 3 People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) warships including two Houbei-class missile boats stalked the Philippine convoy and then maneuvered to block their path,

According to Philippine Navy reports, Chinese maritime militia boats are also in the vicinity as added augmentation force.

The Chinese Navy radioed the Philippine ships warning of “compulsory measures” if the RORE mission proceeded even as a CCG ship started closing in within 1,000 yards of M/V Lapu-Lapu.

This prompted the Philippine commanders to suspend the RORE mission to prioritize the safety of personnel and avoid a direct and perilous escalation of the situation.

This latest incident comes despite a July 2024 confidential “provisional understanding” our Department of Foreign Affairs made with the Chinese government providing for a “crisis management framework.”

The framework calls for prior notice to be given to China with regards to the provisioning of the BRP Sierra Madre. Since then, the framework resulted to 15 incident-free RORE missions and without any attendant media hype and deliberate escalation of the already tense situation between the Philippines and China.

But only last August, Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro suddenly told the media that he is “not aware,” nor has he consented to any “provisional understanding” with China/

“As far as I know, there was neither an agreement nor an understanding to begin with,” Teodoro declared.

It is incredible that Teodoro, DND Secretary since June 2023, is not aware of this understanding with China despite its being widely reported at the time.

Is he that much of an aliterate? That he simply chooses not to read anything about China that goes against his own biased opinion?

This understanding is also being deliberately sabotaged by expired-Justice Antonio Carpio who has also repeatedly its merits.

After fruitlessly explaining that the provisional understanding did not compromise Philippine rights and claim, the DFA, also announced last August that it is leaving to the Armed Forces (AFP) and the Philippine Coastguard (PCG) on whether to continue with the provisional understanding with China or not.

The aborted RORE mission last September 14 is clearly Sec. Teodoro and the AFP’s answer to the DFA.

Translation? An escalation of the situation and its immediate aftermath, the starvation of our troops on board the BRP Sierra Madre.

Given his temperament, we are sure that Teodoro is comfortable to see our Marines starved to death at the BRP Sierra Madre.

We can only pray for their souls this early.