Philippines’s defense chief announced recently that the country is not in favor of removing a dilapidated navy ship from the bedrocks of the South China Sea. China earlier asserted that the country should remove it as it was turning into a barrier for the smooth functioning of its protocols.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana dismissed China’s plead and said that the Philippines had committed to remove the BRP Sierra Madre, which was intentionally grounded at the Second Thomas shoal in 1999 to reinforce Manila’s sovereignty claims in the Spratly archipelago.
