Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 9) — Sen. Imee Marcos on Sunday urged defense and foreign affairs officials to increase monitoring of US military planes at Philippine airports to “determine if covert US military flights aggravated the already tense situation in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait” and to “weigh the risks to public safety.”
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\”Too little is known about ongoing US military activity in our territory while we constantly call out the presence of Chinese vessels in the South China Sea,\” said Marcos, chairperson of the Senate committee on foreign relations.
\”I am aware of ongoing exercises with foreign militaries this month. But the same zeal in tracking any violations in our maritime territory and EEZ (exclusive economic zone) must also apply where Philippine air traffic rules and joint military agreements with the U.S. are concerned,\” she added.
Marcos said passengers on commercial flights to and from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) noticed two US military planes near the runway and shared the pictures to her office.
Citing data from global flight tracker AirNav Systems, Marcos said a US Air Force C-17 with flight code MC244/RCH244 landed in Manila at 6:03 a.m. on July 7. It came from the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. The aircraft then flew to Palawan before 1 p.m. and headed to Yokota Air Base in Fussa City in Japan later in the afternoon.
\”Although the plane’s call signal was repeatedly out of coverage during its journey, flight tracker Flightradar24 recorded its departure from Palawan shortly before 4 p.m., Manila time, and its arrival at Yokota Air Base at around 9:30 p.m., Japan time,\” she said.
\”The flight route from Palawan showed the plane passing over Pampanga, Cagayan, and off the eastern coasts of Batanes and Taiwan before it landed at the Yokota Air Base,\” she added.
Marcos also said another Boeing C-17 plane with flight code RCH323 was spotted north of Busuanga town, Palawan past 10 a.m. on July 8. She said it took off from Tokyo the night before.
\”[It] was off the radar until late afternoon when it again appeared in the same vicinity flying toward Polillo Island before exiting the Philippine territory past 6 p.m.,\” she added.
Earlier, Marcos flagged the “unadvised” landing of a US military plane reportedly from Guam at NAIA on June 26.
On Friday, the senator said she received a letter from the US Embassy a day prior explaining the incident, saying it had diplomatic clearance as it was heading to a bilateral military exercise in Palawan.
The US embassy also admitted the lack of coordination with ground handlers on the plane’s arrival, which caused hours of delay at the airport.
