Senate panel shows undersea drones found off PH coast
At a Senate panel hearing on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Roy Vincent Trinidad differentiated the undersea drones discovered ashore by Filipino fishermen. FILE PHOTO: Arnel Tacson, INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate panel on maritime and admiralty zones presented the actual submersible drones and a buoy found by Filipino fishermen off the Philippine coast at a public hearing on Wednesday.
At the hearing presided by panel chair Sen. Francis Tolentino, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, discussed the undersea drones discovered ashore by Filipino fishermen.
The first was a yellow submersible drone labelled HY 119 that was found off the coast of Ilocos Norte, Zambales, Cagayan, Misamis Oriental, and Masbate.
“Yung yellow drone is designed to collect data [such as] depth of water, salinity, and oxygen content,” said Trinidad.
(The yellow drone is designed to collect data such as water depth, salinity, and oxygen content.)
The other one is a military-grade drone discovered in Sabtang, Batanes.
“Yung black [one] has the same capability, but it also has a sensor that can take up sound, how it propagates, and travels underwater. Sound propagation is very critical when it comes to undersea water pero lahat ng mga nakukuhang information ng mga drone na ito have different uses,” Trinidad explained.
(The black one has the same capability, but it also has a sensor that can take up sound as well as how it propagates and travels underwater. Sound propagation is very critical when it comes to underwater but all of the information that these drones are getting have different uses.)
“Pwede itong commercial, pwedeng academic, pwedeng scientific research at pwede ring military use. Ang sinasabi this is purely for military — iba’t ibang gamit ng information, kasama doon sa kanyang gamit ang military purposes,” he added.
(This can be for commercial use, academic, scientific research, as well as military use. But they are saying that this is purely for military use – the information can be used in various ways, including military purposes.)
According to Trinidad, the military-grade submersible has a China telecom subscriber identity module, which means that the equipment can send a signal to China.
“We are just saying the results of the forensic examination points to China. Ang sinasabi namin based sa forensic examination, nagbato siya ng signal sa China,” said Trinidad.
(We are just saying the results of the forensic examination point to China. What we are saying is that based on forensic examination, it sent a signal to China.)
READ: Navy recently found drones in PH likely deployed by Chinese govt
Later in the hearing, Tolentino asked if the government has the capability to produce drone catchers or drone detectors so that these pieces of equipment may be detected immediately.
“There are sensors that could detect even equipment smaller than this [but] currently, we rely more on our government agencies and fisherfolks who give their reports,” Trinidad said in reply.
