UNION BANK WEST PHILIPPINE SEA (AERIAL FILE PHOTO)

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) recently filed a diplomatic protest against China after flares were fired on a patrolling Philippine aircraft at Union Bank in the disputes West Philippine Sea last June.

National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. in a press briefing, said flares, not gunshot of unidentified caliber were fired at an Armed Force of the Philippines (AFP) patrolling aircraft along Union Bank area.

Esperon said there were two Chinese detachments at the Union Banks area where that incident happen.

The aircraft was conducting a routine patrol operation to monitor the presence of marine scientific research vessels that operated in the West Philippine Sea and unnecessary swarming of vessels around Pagasa Island station, turning off their automatic identification system, when the incident happen.

“True to what we have agreed upon, we immediately put it into political…there was a diplomatic protest filed,” he added.

In 2013, the Philippines challenged China’s legal basis for its expansive claim before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands.

The Philippines won the case in a landmark award in 2016 after the tribunal invalidated Beijing’s assertions.

China has since rejected the ruling, saying its claims have a historical basis and are “indisputable.”