Philippines ditches weekly reporting on Chinese vessels in West Philippine Sea

MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines will no longer provide the public with weekly updates on the number of Chinese vessels seen swarming the West Philippine Sea, opting instead for monthly summaries that it believes will capture the "bigger picture."

Roy Vincent Trinidad, the Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said the shift to a monthly reporting of Chinese vessels' illegal presence is part of the AFP's "recalibaration" of its public communications on matters related to the West Philippine Sea.

"We are still monitoring the illegal presence of the [People's Liberation Army] Navy, Coast Guard, and the maritime militia. But our reporting on them will be on a monthly basis to give us a longer duration to look at trends, and to assess on a longer period of time," Trinidad said in a press conference on Tuesday, October 22.

When asked if the AFP will still show the weekly changes in the number of Chinese vessels in the contested waters, Trinidad said in an interview: "It depends on how we package everything."

"We have to look at how to present everything na hindi lang siya figures (not just focused on figures)," Trinidad added.

He said the AFP is "looking at better metrics" and "a better assessment tool" to chart the trends of Chinese vessels' illegal presence in the contested waters.

"We can't (see the trend) in a one week period of time... You do not want to get too focused on the here and now. You want the taumbayan (public) to see the big picture over a longer period of time," Trinidad said.

Implications for transparency. Trinidad does not see the shift to monthly reporting as a step back in the Philippines’ assertive transparency initiative — the Marcos administration's policy of actively exposing China's swarming, blocking, and tailing actions that restrict Philippine access to its own waters. 

Instead, the military believes this approach will offer a fuller picture of China’s actions while spotlighting its own personnel's activities, including its patrols, Trinidad said.

"Transparency is showing the world not only what's happening, but what we are doing, and what we are doing is hard to quantify in figures and part of the big picture," Trinidad added.

"We would like to emphasize that we are now focusing on the activities being conducted by the Armed Forces," he said.

From October 1 to 18, Trinidad said the Philippine Navy and the Air Force conducted 64 activities spread out over the expansive West Philippine Sea, including Escoda Shoal and Bajo de Masinloc.

What went before. Following the pullout of the Philippine Coast Guard's flagship vessel from its five-month deployment at Escoda Shoal in September, the Philippines has taken a more tight-lipped stance on its deployments in the disputed waters, tagging the situation as a "lesson" after repeated Chinese attacks on BRP Teresa Magbanua in August.

Alexander Lopez, spokesperson of the National Maritime Council, said in September that the Philippines will no longer disclose the location or type of vessel it sends to patrol Escoda Shoal, and more broadly, the the West Philippine Sea.

He said the details needed to be "kept as close to our chest as possible" to prevent China  from anticipating and countering the Philippines' naval strategies.

On Tuesday, Trinidad clarified that the Philippines has maintained a presence at Escoda Shoal even after BRP Teresa Magbanua's pullout from its deployment.

"The presence of the AFP is there. It's not a constant presence where a vessel is anchored. We have already given more coverage not just to Escoda but also to Bajo de Masinloc," Trinidad added.