MANILA - The Philippine Navy said on Saturday that the US military had not made any request to allow the entry of its warship in Philippine waters in light of reports that a sonar array carried by the US warship, USS John McCain, collided with a Chinese submarine off the Subic coast.

"We have no (military) exercise that would justify its presence here. And besides, if there will be vessel like that, we should have information about it," said Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo.

"The protocol that we are following is that any vessel, not necessarily US vessels, but all vessels from any country, would have to request passage from us if they want to enter our area of responsibility, especially if you are a warship. That’s a convention, a matter of courtesy," said Arevalo.

Regarding the case of the destroyer USS John McCain, the Navy spokesman said there was no request that was forwarded to the military.

"There was none," said Arevalo, regarding the need to seek the Philippine government's permission. "So we would like to presume that it didn't happen (in Subic)... We maintained it could have happened in international waters."

There were reports indicating that a US ship was pulling the sonar array near Subic last Thursday when it ran into a Chinese submarine.

"If that indeed happened, we maintain it could have happened in international waters, and it (US ship) went to Subic because it’s the nearest facility that is capable of accommodating that form of vessel because it’s a former US base," said Arevalo.