The Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) clarified Monday that claims about Chinese boats involved in black sand mining in Aparri, Cagayan, was “fake news.”
According to NOLCOM spokesperson Major Marco Magisa, maritime surveillance platforms and human intelligence showed no Chinese boat engaged in black sand mining” was seen in the areas mentioned in a “tweet.”
However, Magisa did not reveal which tweet he was referring to.
“[M]aking us believe that such is fake news maliciously designed to serve as propaganda against NOLCOM considering the series of decisive blows and headways that our troops have recorded against the NPA terrorists that have pushed them on the verge of irrecoverable defeat,” he said.
Magisa said NOLCOM did not receive any report on the alleged Chinese boats from its “vast intelligence network placed across all areas north of Metro Manila which are designed to gather information related to Internal Security as well as territorial defense missions.”
“[A]ll confirmed reports of territorial incursions are being actively addressed through overt measures such as aerial challenges until concerned foreign vessels or aircraft leave Philippine waters or airspace,” he said.
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NOLCOM: Chinese boats seen in Aparri is ‘fake news’
Magisa also said the “mother” being referred to in the “propaganda tweet” is a confirmed NPA terrorist arrested by virtue of a warrant duly issued by a court judge.
“Failure on the part of the security forces to implement such legal order is a betrayal of our constitutional mandate to serve our people and secure every inch of the Filipinos’ homeland,” he said.