US security expert says 19 Chinese vessels also remain at Ayungin Shoal

AT LEAST 21 Chinese maritime militia ships have been spotted heading toward Pag-asa Island while some 19 Chinese militia ships remained at Ayungin Shoal, a US maritime security expert said over the weekend.

Former US Air Force official Ray Powell said the Philippine Coast Guard’s BRP Cabra found itself in the middle of a redeployment of the Chinese vessels traveling to Pag-asa Island on Friday.

“These 21 ships were among those swarming at Mischief Reef (Ayungin Shoal) during the Philippines’ blockaded August 5 resupply,” Powell said on Twitter.

Powell was referring to the Aug. 5 incident where Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessels fired water cannons against Philippine vessels on a resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre.

“Any CCG ships still in the area have remained [automatic identification system]-dark, as have any PLA [Peoples’ Liberation Army] Navy ships (always dark),” he said in a series of tweets. Powell said three CCG vessels that took part in the blockade have returned to Hainan Island, while “three others remained AIS-dark and are unaccounted for.”

The blockade and illegal use of water cannons prompted the Philippines to file a diplomatic protest against China. Coast Guard ‘hotline’ terminated As this developed, the PCG’s "hotline" to its Chinese counterpart is now

High-level unrest, eruption in Mayon likely—Phivolcs

By Rio N. Araja

MAYON Volcano in Albay is currently in a relatively high level of unrest and hazardous eruption within weeks or even days could still be possible, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

In the past 24-hour period, a slow effusion of lava from the summit crater of Mayon Volcano continued to feed the established lava flows on the Bonga (southeastern), Mi-isi (south), and Basud (eastern) gullies, Phivolcs also said. The lava flows maintained advances to approximately 3.4 kilometers, 2.8 kilometers, and 1.1 kilometers from the crater.