In the coastal town of Rizal in Palawan, under the cover of darkness, four Navy boats prepared to sail. It was June 17, probably past midnight, and they were going on a mission to replace the personnel on board the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal as well as replenish supplies.

Jeffrey Facundo, underwater operator of the elite Naval Special Operations Command (Navsocom), and his team – ten of them in two rigid hull inflatable boats or RHIB – were with other servicemen in two aluminum patrol coastal crafts.

It was a mission of firsts under the Marcos administration, starting from the takeoff point. For one thing, the Rotation and Resupply mission or RORE set off from the town of Rizal. (Usually, it is the Escoda Shoal, internationally known as Sabina Shoal.) It would also be the first time for the Navsocom, the counterpart of the US Navy SEALs, to take part in such an activity. 

This was the first purely military RORE without Philippine Coast Guard escorts. It was the debut of the new Navy-chartered boat, ML Lapu Lapu, which was supposed to bring the bulk of the supplies. There is scant information on where Lapu Lapu took off, where it was swarmed by Chinese militia ships, and what eventually happened to it.

The USNI News reported that images of Lapu Lapu from the Chinese state media “reveal metal coverings on the vessel’s windshield and other windows.” It looks like it can withstand water cannons, far more sturdy and solid than the Unaizah May boats. (The Unaizah May civilian boats operated by the Navy are currently under repair, having been battered by powerful water cannons from the Chinese Coast Guard.)

Knives, axes and spears

At 6 am on June 17, Facundo and the other team aboard the RHIB arrived in Ayungin. The two patrol craft did not make it, stalled by mechanical trouble.

As the Navy personnel were tying the two inflatable boats to the side of the BRP Sierra Madre, dozens of Chinese Coast Guard personnel, riding on eight RHIBs, swarmed them, wielding pickaxes, knives and improvised spears, shouting at the top of their voices, blaring their sirens and flashing strobe lights. They cut the rope that moored the Navy’s RHIBs and punctured them, later towing these away. 

The Chinese ransacked the Navy boats, hammered the outboard motors, windshield and communications equipment.

One of China’s inflatable boats rammed that of the Navy’s, landing on top of it, making Facundo and two other servicemen lose their balance. This was when Facundo’s thumb got sliced off by a sharp metal under the Chinese boat.

It would take 12 hours for the Philippine Coast Guard, standing by at the Rajah Soliman Reef near Ayungin, to rescue Facundo and company. 

New ‘operational design’

During a Senate hearing, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro disclosed that the June 17 mission was a purely military operation. 

At the time the attack was taking place – the most violent encounter between Philippine and Chinese forces – Teodoro, together with Armed Forces chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. and Navy Flag Officer in Command Vice Admiral Toribio Adaci Jr. – were in South Korea attending a ceremony to launch the Philippines’ first-ever missile-guided corvette manufactured by Hyundai Heavy Industries. 

The military’s Western Command (Wescom), based in Palawan, appeared to have been the one that called the shots during the delicate mission.

Wescom chief Rear Admiral Alfonso Torres told reporters the RORE was a new “operational design.” Implementing this new design was a unilateral move of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), coming as it did two days after China enforced its new rule to detain foreigners suspected of trespassing. (China has always insisted that it has sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea.)

Alphabet soup: NMC, NTF-WPS, POMC

Usually, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea or NTF-WPS is informed of RORE missions. In 2016, then-president Benigno Aquino III created it to unify national action on the West Philippine Sea as China continuously harassed Philippine ships and fishermen.

This was carried on by the Duterte administration. For eight years, the NTF, headed by the national security adviser, was the visible body that stayed on top of policy and operations in the WPS.

Today, it is the National Maritime Council (NMC), which President Marcos recently created, that is the inter-agency body in charge of maritime security covering the entire country. The executive secretary, Lucas Bersamin, chairs the NMC while its secretariat is headed by the Presidential Office for Maritime Concerns or PMOC run by Andres Centino. 

The NTF-WPS is now an attached agency of the NMC. But as the June 17 fiasco shows, the lines of communication seem to have blurred. Apart from the AFP going it alone, keeping the NTF-WPS out of the loop, the messages to the public were confusing.

The NMC prematurely announced its recommendation to make the RORE schedule public. This was later turned down. 

Moreover, Bersamin wrongly assessed the brazen attack of the China Coast Guard on the Philippine Navy as an “accident” or “misunderstanding.” This was eventually corrected by Teodoro. 

When it comes down to personalities, Eduardo Año, the national security adviser, Teodoro and Centino need to talk to each other to make this alphabet soup of inter-agency bodies work seamlessly. Ultimately, Marcos has to be clear and decisive about policy directives.

As the country has projected itself as David in a long and bruising battle against Goliath, the last thing the Philippines needs is a divided front.

Please send your feedback to marites.vitug@rappler.com.