The local authorities in Quezon Province particularly the policemen who confirmed the presence of a US Navy Drone noted that the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is indeed unarmed and was used as an aerial target drone by the US Navy. Most residents in the area who spotted the floating US Navy drone were afraid to bring the UAV to the shore.
According to Police Inspector Ramilo de Luna, a fisherman first spotted the UAV at around 4:00 PM last Sunday near the islet of Patnanungan in Sitio Katakian, Barangay Busdak off Polilio Group of Islands in the Quezon Province.
The markings of the orange drone indicate that is owned by the US Navy, the drone has serial number BQ 55079 and model number BQM 74e.
During the sighting of the drone, the local fishermen in the area refused to go near the drone for fear that it might explode until local policemen arrived and loaded the drone into a fishing boat and it was brought to the local police station.
The commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Southern Luzon Command, Maj. Gen. Ricardo Visaya, confirmed yesterday that policemen recovered an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is apparently owned by the US Navy off the Polilio Group of Islands in Quezon.
The US Navy’s one-foot-wingspan UAV is now under the custody of the Patnanungan Police, while the government’s military officials are currently coordinating with US officials to find out the origin of the drone.
This is not the first time that a US Drone was found in the Philippines, last January 2013, another unarmed US Navy target drone was found in the waters off Masbate.