“BARE HANDS”
Brawner described the incident after visiting the injured sailor in Palawan, saying Filipino personnel had “fought back with our bare hands” after Chinese coast guard personnel from eight vessels boarded their rigid-hulled inflatable boats.
“They took guns and other equipment, destroyed our equipment on board including the motors. They punctured our rigid-hulled inflatable boats,” he said.
“We are demanding that the Chinese return our rifles and our equipment and we are also demanding from them to pay for the damages that they have caused,” Brawner said.
“For me this is piracy.”
Rear Admiral Alfonso Torres, commander for the Philippines’ South China Sea forces, told reporters “seven firearms were looted and forcibly taken” by the Chinese coast guard.
He said communication and navigation equipment and an outboard motor were destroyed and the mobile phones of the Filipino crew were taken.
Brawner said the Chinese coast guard carried “bolos” – a type of single-edged sword – as well as spears and knives.
“Our troops had none of those,” he said.
The Philippine military said the seized guns were intended for Filipino troops manning the BRP Sierra Madre warship on the shoal. The crew of the boarded boats were under orders not to display their weapons, it said.
China deploys coast guard and other boats to patrol the waters around Second Thomas Shoal and has turned several reefs into artificial militarised islands.
It has stepped up moves against Philippine vessels in the area in recent months.
Torres said Monday’s confrontation began when one of the Filipino boats was “illegally rammed” at “high speed” by a Chinese coast guard boat.
The injured Filipino Naval Special Operations Group member lost a thumb when the Chinese vessel landed on top of the bow, Torres said.
