Philippine 'Angels' aim to de-escalate South China Sea encounters

Stephane Villalon, a Philippine Coast Guard radio operator working with the all-women "Angels of the Sea" programme, posing for a photo on a ship in Manila. - AFP

MANILA: Seawoman Second Class Stephane Villalon's voice reverberated on the bridge of her Philippine ship as she issued a radio challenge to a much larger Chinese Coast Guard vessel in a disputed area of the South China Sea.

The five-foot-tall (152-centimetre) radio operator is one of the Philippine Coast Guard's 81 "Angels of the Sea", graduates of an all-women training programme aimed at defusing encounters in the critical waterway.