A United States surveillance spy plane was recovered off Tacdugan Reef in Ticao, Masbate province on Sunday, authorities said.

The 3.65-meter drone was seen floating off Tacdugan Reef by fishermen who initially thought it was a bomb and alerted police about the unusual discovery.

“It appears to have been floating for quite some time. We will first study this drone but initially it appears to be an unmanned aerial vehicle used largely in reconnaissance,” Capt. Rommel Galang, deputy commander of naval forces in the area, said.

He said that the drone, a BQM-74E Chuckar 3 model, had inscriptions that indicate it is an American drone.

Galang said that the US Embassy had been informed of the discovery of the drone, which was turned over to the Philippine Navy.

President Benigno Aquino 3rd had earlier confirmed that the Philippines has been allowing US drones to fly over Philippine territory for reconnaissance flights, but were not allowed to make strikes.

About 600 US forces have been rotating in the southern Philippines since 2002 as part of the US government’s global war on terror.

However, the drone was found in Masbate, many hundreds of kilometers from the Muslim insurgency racked areas. The island province, however, is one of the areas in the central Philippines where communists waging a decades-long rebellion have long operated.

The National Democratic Front (NDF) in Bicol Region, meanwhile, accused the United States government of spying on Philippine territory.

“This is a manifestation and violation of our sovereignty. We strongly condemn the United States government for superseding internal conflict in Philippines,” Gregorio Bañares, NDF Bicol spokesman, told The Manila Times.

Bañares also blamed the Aquino administration for allowing the US forces to enter Philippine territory through the balikatan military training exercises.

With a report from AFP