The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Wednesday it would not retaliate against China despite the recent water cannon attack in the West Philippine Sea.

PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had advised them to remain professional and refrain from using water cannon against water cannon.

“Ano ang strategic value ng water cannon? Makikipagbasaan ng tubig? Is that our game plan here? Obviously not,” Tarriela said.

“We’re not going to be the reason to escalate the tension. We’re not going to be the reason to be an excuse for the Chinese government to bring in their warships and elevate the tension, sasabihing tayo ang nagsimula ng gulo,” he added.

Tarriela said China’s water cannon attack on April 30 showed its increased aggression and damaged the metal railings and canopy of BRP Bagacay and starboard astern of BRP Datu Bankaw.

The communication and navigation systems of the ships were also hit in the attack during the humanitarian mission that aims to provide fuel subsidy, water, food packs, and to ensure the safety of Filipino fishermen in Panatag Shoal.

“You can just imagine how high the pressure that was used against the Filipino Coast Guard vessel kasi nagkabaliko-baliko ang railing ng vessel. And on the part of BFAR vessel, nasira nila ‘yung communication antenna nila and some of the radar equipment were also hit by the water cannon,” Tarriela said. 

China fires water cannon at Philippine vessels

Despite the latest development, the PCG will continue to patrol and conducts its missions for fishermen.

“Paano kung paulit-ulit nilang gawin ‘yan? Paulit-ulit ang water cannon? Paulit-ulit nila tayong harangan? Paulit-ulit pa ring pupuntahan ng Coast Guard, ng BFAR, at ng Armed Forces of the Philippines ‘yan. Dahil ang West Philippine Sea, sa atin naman ‘yan e,” Tarriela said.

“Magpapatrolya pa rin dyan, mamimigay pa rin ng ayuda sa mga mangingisda, that’s our patriotic duty that we are sworn to do. Hindi kami mapipigilan ng China,” he added.

Tarriela said their transparency strategy in the West Philippine Sea had a positive impact in exposing China's aggressive actions in the area.

“This is the objective of the transparency strategy— for us to be able to expose China in removing their mask pretention that they are responsible state, that they’re willing to have peaceful negotiations,” Tarriela said.

“So for us, this is still a victory of the transparency strategy. The mere fact that China no longer hesitates to show their real character of violating, for being a bully country,” he added.

China urges PH to stop 'provocations' in West Philippine Sea, following incident

Meanwhile, the Philippine Navy urged China to “act professionally”.

“Itong mga illegal, unprofessional, uncalled for, unprovoked actions by China… these increases the room for a miscalculation. So ayaw natin umabot sa isang miscalculated action na ang repercussion ay malaki,”  Navy Spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad said.

“So sinasabihan natin ang China, you should act professionally,” he added.

Asked whether there were other ways the Philippines could respond to China's water cannon use, Trinidad said, "We are also considering other measures right now. But there are other options on the table, that we leave up to the national government."