Philippine civilian boat convoy turns back from sail to China-held reef

SOUTH CHINA SEA: A Philippine boat convoy bearing supplies for Filipino fishers was heading back to port Thursday, saying they ditched plans to sail t...

SOUTH CHINA SEA: A Philippine boat convoy bearing supplies for Filipino fishers was heading back to port Thursday, saying they ditched plans to sail to a Beijing-held reef off the Southeast Asian country after one of their boats was shadowed by a Chinese navy ship.

The Atin Ito ("This Is Ours") civilian coalition convoy set sail Wednesday to distribute fuel and food to fishers and assert Philippine rights in the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims nearly entirely despite an international ruling against its assertion.

The voyage comes about two weeks after Manila -- which has competing claims in the sea -- said China Coast Guard vessels damaged two Philippine government boats with high-pressure water cannon near Scarborough Shoal.

"We can say mission success," convoy leader Rafaela David said in a video message broadcast on social media from one of the wooden-hulled supply boats, adding that part of the fleet had breached China's "massive and illegal blockade" and handed out fuel and food to Filipino fishers.

The convoy also learned from fishers on boats near Scarborough Shoal via radio "that they had been chased away by the Chinese," the non-government group's spokesman Emman Hizon told AFP.