Name: EBALAN, CRISHA MAE C.

Course: BEED

The MV Karagatan incident was the subject of the 2012 documentary "Ang
Pagbabalik sa Karagatan" by Howie Severino, which was aired on GMA
Network's IWitness. In the documentary, a crew led by Severino along with
former NPA commander Victor Corpus went to Digoyo Point to visit the
shipwreck of MV Karagatan.The MV Karagatan reached the Digoyo Point in
Palanan, Isabela, Philippines. On July 4, 1972, the crew of the ship boarded a
dinghy and met with their NPA contacts along the shore. Victor Corpus, a
defector from the Philippine military and a member of the NPA at the time, was
tasked to lead the group that would receive the armaments at shore.Then the
arms on board the MV Karagatan were then slowly unloaded using multiple
bangka. A small plane passed over the area which prompted the MV Karagatan
crew to move their ship closer to the mouth of the Digoyo River thinking they had
been found out by the Philippine military. Another plane flew over the area at
sunset, which was identified by the crew as a T-34 Mentor. This led to the ship
captain to start the engine causing the MV Karagatan hydraulic system to sustain
damage after hitting a rock. While the ship was undergoing repairs, the captain
turned on the radar and spotted an unidentified vessel moving towards the boat.
The crew abandoned the ship and headed towards the shore.The MV Karagatan
incident involved an attempt to smuggle in armaments to the Philippines from
China by the New People's Army, a communist rebel group through a ship
named MV Karagatan. The incident is among the reasons used by President
Ferdinand Marcos when he imposed Martial law in the Philippines on September
21, 1972.The MV Karagatan incident was followed by another arms trafficking
attempt. The NPA procured another ship which was named as MV Andrea.
However the ship sank in the South China Sea on its way to Sanya Naval Base
in Hainan to load hundreds of firearms concealed inside plastic tubes.China and
the Philippines formally established diplomatic relations on June 9, 1975, which
marks the end of Chinese support for the NPA.