Military presses US on American plane, allegedly disguised as Philippine aircraft, flew over Yellow Sea

October 1, 2020

National Security Adviser (NSA) Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. emphasized the importance of asking the United States about the incident at the Yellow Sea where the US Air Force surveillance plane reportedly disguised itself as a Philippine aircraft.

The South China Morning Post said on Sept. 24, the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI) monitored that the RC-135S reconnaissance aircraft allegedly disguised itself as a Philippine aircraft when it was flying over the Yellow Sea between the Chinese coast and the Korean peninsula.

After completing its mission, the US plane returned to its original number .

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana asked the US Embassy on Monday to confirm the incident, ABS-CBN reported.

"We have yet to get the reaction of the US Embassy but it is important to ask them and caution them or inform them if they have not known about that there pilots have been using the codes that belong to Philippine aircraft, that are assigned to the Philippines and Malaysia," said Esperon.

"The pilots are probably trying to test the reaction that would come from China and so the Chinese reacted and it came out in the news, " he said.

"We have an obligation to ourselves to really communicate with our counterparts on why that was done, we have no update yet, we will leave that to the defense department," he added.

Esperon also mentioned that the incident "can incriminate the Philippines".

"What could happen really is it can implicate or incriminate the Philippine side but, that is why we simply to remind the United States counterparts of the implications of this, it is not something that, it is something that must be discussed, nonetheless we hope that this could be settled satisfactorily between the parties," he said.

Esperon explained that using the Philippine aircraft codes in Yellow Sea brings out suspicions because it is the area that is not usually visited by the Philippine aircraft.

"Just imagine the incident happened in the Yellow Sea which is between Korea and China. It is an area where we don't usually go. We stay within, usually within our domain air and  maritime domain for our patrols. We don't go to Yellow Sea for surveillance or anything,'' said Esperon.

''So it's really, when you realize when you are an operative or an operator, a technician and you noticed that a (plane with) Philippine code comes to the area then all the more that it brings out your suspicion," he said.

"It seems that they pretend in our behalf, the Philippine is far from that area that is why it is easy to detect, so that should also be a lesson to some parties" he added. Robina Asido/DMS