At sea, the PCG finds a ‘friend’ in co-claimant Vietnam

BATAAN, Philippines – A strong stream of water sprayed over the BRP Gabriela Silang on Friday, August 9, as it opened its own water cannons off the coast of Corregidor Island in Bataan, just at the mouth of the Manila Bay. Nearby, Vietnam Coast Guard (VCG) vessel 8002 was doing the same, spraying a steady stream of salt water across the sea, as a tiny patrol boat, the 24-meter BRP Boracay, sailed between the two coast guard ships. 

This was no tense confrontation — as Filipinos are wont to think when the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and water cannons are involved — but the first step in what the PCG hopes to be a lasting friendship between Manila and its neighbors in Southeast Asia. 

On Friday, the VCG and PCG held a joint exercise — the first-ever engagement of this kind between the two agencies and the first since Hanoi and Manila signed a cooperation agreement for its coast guards when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visited Vietnam in January 2024. 

“As a coast guard, I am happy because at least we have gained a lot of knowledge and also friends. Not only here in our country, the Philippines, but also our ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region, ASEAN countries, neighbors,” Captain Lawrence Roque, commanding officer of the BRP Gabriela Silang, told reporters after the two-hour-long exercise. 

Over the unexpectedly rough waters off Bataan on Friday afternoon, the BRP Gabriela Silang and the VCG vessel 8002 practiced putting out a simulated fire at sea and search and rescue operations. 

The drills will come in handy, the PCG said, should the two nations find themselves in a similar real-life situation out at sea. 

And as in most maritime agreements and cooperations, Philippine officials were quick to downplay the China-shaped elephant in the room. “This is a humanitarian exercise, a humanitarian visit, and also a goodwill visit of the Vietnam Coast Guard,” said Roque. 

Yet it’s hard to ignore the impact and tensions Beijing and its expansionist dreams are bringing into the South China Sea. 

Tensions between Manila and Beijing reached a high in June 2024, when the China Coast Guard (CCG) attacked Filipino soldiers trying to bring supplies to Ayungin Shoal, a feature in the Philippine exclusive economic zone that China insists is theirs. Tensions have since gone down but worries over China’s continued claim of practically the entire South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea, persist. 

Vietnam, like the Philippines, claims parts of the South China Sea — there are a handful of instances where those claims overlap. All in all, Vietnam occupies 19 features in those waters, while the Philippines occupies 9. Unlike Manila, however, Hanoi’s strategy in asserting its rights in the South China Sea is through its aggressive island building. 

The Philippines is in a different place. China’s use of water cannons — as a weapon of deterrence and not for firefighting — has gained infamy in this part of the world and beyond. Philippine missions to parts of the West Philippine Sea have, one too many times, resulted in the CCG using strong water cannons against Philippine ships, including wooden vessels. 

The Marcos administration has been trying, through diplomacy, to establish agreements with co-claimants in the South China Sea in order to avoid tense confrontations. Aside from Vietnam, the Philippines also forged an agreement with Brunei. Philippine officials are also keen on reaching an agreement with Malaysia. – Rappler.com