THE Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) deployed BRP Teresa Magbanua to Escoda (Sabina) Shoal to protect the country's sovereign rights and run after illegal fishing activities, not to provoke or escalate tension in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), Commo. Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesman for the WPS, said Sunday.

Tarriela issued the statement in response to reports that China lodged a formal protest over the presence of the ship in Escoda Shoal (Xianbin Jiao in Chinese), a coral reef formation some 70 nautical miles off mainland Palawan.