SUMMARY
MANILA, Philippines – The China Coast Guard’s (CCG) effort to disrupt Manila’s resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal on June 17 was not armed an attack, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in his first media interview since the incident.
The incident – which severely injured a Filipino soldier – saw CCG officers use tear gas, brandish bladed weapons, tug at the Philippine Navy’s rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs), and throw rocks at soldiers moored beside the BRP Sierra Madre, the dilapidated ship that serves as the Philippines’ outpost in Ayungin Shoal.
“It’s not an armed attack. Walang pumutok. Hindi tayo tinutukan ng baril. (No shot was fired. They didn’t point a gun at us). But it was a deliberate action to stop our people,” Marcos said on Thursday, June 27.
“In the process…