junks China demand to remove ship from Ayungin Shoal

By Rey E. Requejo, Vince Lopez

and

Charles Dantes

THE Philippines on Tuesday said it will not accede to China’s demand that it remove the BRP Sierra Madre from the Ayungin Shoal and denied Beijing’s claims that it promised to do so.

In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the deployment of a permanent station in Ayungin Shoal was actually a response to China’s illegal occupation of Panganiban Reef in 1995.

The National Security Council also denied China’s claims.

“The PH has not and will never enter into any agreement abandoning its