Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the Philippine Coast Guard to inspect dredgers being used in reclamation works in Manila Bay to determine whether the vessels are operating in compliance with local laws.
The coast guard will board and inspect all dredgers operating in the area to verify each one's vessel registration and AIS transmission.
Philippine law requires dredgers being operated in Philippine waters to be Philippine-flagged, at least 60 per cent Filipino-owned, and manned by Filipino crews.
The order to the coast guard came one day following the publication of an article by maritime transparency initiative SeaLight, which stated that one particular dredger had transmitted at least 30 unique identities over two years of operating between Manila Bay and the coast of Zambales province nearly 100 kilometres north of Manila.
The same vessel, identified by the name Kang Ling 539, even broadcast two different identities within the space of a few hours while in Manila Bay on the night (local time) of Friday, January 2. This was reported by security analyst Ray Powell, Director of SeaLight and author of the article.
Powell said in the same article that the dredger had also been registered to six different flag states including the Philippines, Sierra Leone and China since arriving in Philippine waters in 2023.
