said Diego as he pointed the distant craft. “It’s slowing down. I think it’s going to stop.”
The craft stopped. Its occupants knew that somebody had seen the craft at close range. That somebody had seen their secret flying boat on a secret test mission- stalking a Philippine Navy ship in the open sea. The occupants knew that they were in enemy’s territory and the boat they encountered accidentally belongs to the enemy. They knew that it must be silenced to preserve the secrecy of their craft.
The craft maneuvered back and headed toward the boat.
“It’s turning, Andro. It’s coming back to us!” shouted Diego.
“Shit! They saw us. They are enemy,” cursed Andro. “Hold on! I’m speeding away,” shouted Diego.
Diego throttled the engine and the boat speeded away, creating a lot of displacements because they were loaded now. Andro hugged the boat to secure himself from the sudden burst of speed. Andro looked back; the craft was closing on them like a predator chasing its prey. He knew that they were the prey. “Turn to hard right!” Andro ordered.
Diego shifted the rudder in sharp angle and the boat arched violently from its straight course and nearly capsized. The pursuing craft overshot past them like an arrow lost its target. Unable to anticipate their move, the craft lost them momentarily. The boat now was speeding, and heading toward the direction of their island. The craft decelerate, turn to the direction of the boat and prepared for another attack. Its engine roared as if it was in anger chasing the evading prey.
It’s coming again! It’s very fast!” exclaimed Diego
”Shit!” cursed Andro. He knew that their boat’s speed was no match to that of their attacker. A hard turn to either left or right will veer them away toward the wrong direction, much farther away from Pag-asa. And in danger like this, their only protection is the refuge of the island. He was also thinking of a straight course to lessen the distance that separated them from the island but he was also exposing them to be an easy prey for their assailant. Then he thought of the grenade that he brought, that was safely kept inside the boat’s wooden compartment. He knew it can help them. Then he thought of a possible maneuver to position the boat to an attacking angle. He decided to go zigzag but still toward the direction of their island. Sensing the zigzag maneuver the pursuing craft slowed down in anticipation of their next move. Its speed was slowly chalking up the distance that separates them.
“Damn you, devilfish. Come closer to me now!” cursed Andro.
This time he was prepared. He has only one alternative on his mind. He wanted to fight back. He ordered the boat to slow down. As they slowed down the craft at their back gathered speed upon sensing its opportunity to rammed them. But it didn’t know that its would-be prey has a violent preparation. The craft caught up with the boat, now almost at its grasp, without any means of escape. It was akin to a whale, open-mouthed, where its prey was almost at the tip of its tongue. All it needs to do was to close its mouth and swallowed the prey in whole.
Then Andro threw the grenade forcefully to the rushing craft. The grenade exploded at the nose of the craft, and shattered the glass of its cockpit. They saw its shards scattered in all direction. Andro and Diego leaped in exultation. They hit the craft and it staggered then stopped. Later it turned back to them. The two sensed their opportunity to escape and immediately speeded toward their sanctuary, the distant Pag-asa Island.
4. TRIPWIRE TO WAR
The oil tanker Rajah Lakandula, a Philippine registered ship was navigating the Spratly loaded with oil from the Persian Gulf. It was heading toward the island of Luzon where a refinery is located. Without the crews’ knowledge, the ship had been marked up as target since it entered the area. A propeller-driven flying boat called the Shuinghong is shadowing it and tracking its movement. The flying boat can easily attack the ship for it was unescorted, but the situation does not called for. The tension in the area had been steadily building and specter of war pervaded in the area since China occupied again a Philippine claimed Ayungin reef. The flying boat knew that their strategist has another plan for the intruding tanker. It must be sunk in a classic way, in a passive action like mines. They knew that mines had been successfully employed in Persian Gulf, wreaking havoc on international shipping as well as on modern U.S warships operating in the area. And the strategist found out that the U.S. government did not directly retaliate because they had been warned in advance yet they ignored it. Since mines were passive weapons, reacting onto it by directly bombing the perpetrator could only be interpreted that you are responsible for starting the shooting war. Now, the scenario was repeated again in South China Sea. There has been warning to the international community that China placed mines on strategic location of their claimed area in South China Sea as part of the forward defense of their territory. The tanker did not alter its course because to abide to the dictatorial whim of china can only be interpreted as submission. The tanker has been ordered to continue traversing its former route, the open water between the Chinese held Subi and Gaven reefs, where they construct manmade islands on both of it. The gap between the two reefs was heavily mined by the Chinese. The mines they used were encapsulated and bottom-dwelling type. The mines were also linked to underwater cables with control stations situated on both of the island.
When the tanker came nearer to the gap, the flying that shadowed it, called the nearest control station informing them that the tanker enters into their laid trap. The nearest post of the Subi-Gaven defensive line of China relative to the bearing where the tanker was heading was activated. The pre-positioned sonar placed on it goes active and the information it gathered were received and determined. Then the station worked for a firing solution and fed it back to the encapsulated torpedoes of that post. Two torpedoes received the fed and immediately its guidance system goes active. Two torpedoes burst from its encapsulation and headed directly to the target guided by wire. When the two acquired the tanker on its own sensor the wire was terminated and the torpedoes homed at the tanker. The tanker exploded after being hit. It did not survive the attack. Massive oil spill engulfed the surroundings as the tanker sank, releasing its cargo as it went down.
Few hours passed after the incident, China issued the official statement to the world, covered by all segment of mass media and was destined for international consumptions.
The official statement:
The government of Peoples Republic of China regrets the sinking of a Philippine tanker in the vicinity of our Chupi-Pi Chiao Island. Rescue teams were immediately dispatched to help and had picked up some survivors which are now taken cared by our qualified personnel based on the island of Chupi-Pi Chiao.
The tanker had strayed into our defensive zone and hit the mine. All the countries that use South China Sea had been sufficiently notified and warned about the danger of mines on various strategic locations. The commercial shipping community abided to our warning without any question because our act of defending our territory is a sovereign duty of every citizen of our Motherland.
As a peace-loving people, we abide to the code of conduct which we both ratified. As evidence to it, we never sent any of our naval craft to intercept the tanker because we do not want to violate the code even the tanker posed as a dangerous threat to our naval establishment. But the tanker went too far for a commercial ship without ulterior intention. The passage assigned to commercial shipping is the natural navigational route with respect to the nature of underwater terrain of the area.
The Philippine tanker disregarded our warnings and blatantly violated our territorial sovereignty. We fear that the real motive of the tanker is intelligence gathering as manifested by the electronics equipment it carried. We urged the government of the Republic of the Philippines to rein the action of their shipping and refrain from any combative posturing so as not to create incident conducive to eruption of conflict.
They must abide to the request of Peoples Republic of China if they are sincere in seeking peaceful solution in the Nansha.
&
nbsp; The statement ends.
The Philippine government issued also their official statement regarding about the sinking of the tanker.
The statement:
Attacking innocent civilian shipping on international water is an act of terrorism. The international waters belong to the human race. It has been there before any countries existed. Our ancestors sailed on this sea before, and we continued using it until now because the sea will always be there for the benefits of the human race, and not just as an exclusive domain of Communist China. Our civilian shipping had been sailing on this route for many years without any untoward incident until China began its creeping invasion in the Spratly, until they proclaimed to the whole world that the reefs they occupied by the use of military might was rightfully belongs to them. The sinking of the tanker had brought no marvel to our government as well as to the citizens of the Republic of the Philippines because Chinese government had shown before to the whole world their modern brand of cultured brutality. Now, they’re using it again. This incident is fearsome, to Republic of the Philippines as well as to the international community who uses the water of South China Sea. The Philippine constitution denounces war as an instrument of national policy, but the government of the Republic of the Philippines was mandated also by our highest law to protect its citizens from any act of terrorism.
The statement ends.
The corvette BRP Iloilo and the fast attack craft BRP Basilan that was armed with four torpedoes were trailing the wake of mine hunter boat BRP Bangued. Their mission is to keep the Balabac Strait open to international shipping. The former route that was used to traverse the center of South China Sea was shunned by the shippers favoring the safer passage through Balabac Strait, and then traveled through the inland sea of the Philippines before heading toward their destination. BRP Iloilo was one of the modern warships acquired by the Philippine Navy. It was small, fast and compact. It can perform anti-submarine warfare and was also armed with anti-shipping missiles. It can defend itself from any air threats. The ship suited well to a Third World county like the Philippines where the cost of acquisition always depended on the availability of the budget. The corvette fits the requirement of the Philippine Navy. The navy had ordered twelve of it and the delivery was in progress, after the completion of four units. BRP Iloilo also carries anti-submarine warfare helicopter on its deck. It was the Lynx helicopter that carries two lightweight torpedoes. It also carries dipping sonar for its antisubmarine work.
The other ship, the BRP Basilan was a hydrofoil, designed by British compny and was constructed locally. It was armed with lightweight MK-46 torpedoes. The craft could be employed as submarine chaser in tandem with the corvette hence the corvette possessed an advance sonar that can direct the hydrofoil towards its target. The corvette together with the hydrofoil and its attending helicopter can project an effective anti-submarine network in a definite area of operation.
The mine hunter boat was sailing leisurely at ten knots, followed by the corvette, a mile away, which was also trailed by the fast attack craft in a single file formation. After crossing the imaginary boundary with Malaysia, the mine hunter boat slowly arched toward South China Sea, then headed back toward the direction of their base in Ulugan Bay in Palawan. They were sailing unaware that the Chinese mined the area. Then, something hit the hull of the mine hunter. It exploded in an instant ripping the metal skin of the boat and the inside structure. The blast