Filipino Monkey

"Filipino Monkey" is a nickname given to a particular radio prankster (and his imitators) in maritime radio transmissions in the Persian Gulf as well as in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The Filipino Monkey has created problems for merchant shipping and naval operations for over two decades.. It is likely that this title has come about due to a suspicion that such pranksters originate from the Philippines.

All ships at sea are required to monitor VHF marine channel 16, which is the International Emergency Distress Frequency for shipping and maritime purposes. The channel is meant to only be used for establishing contact, at which point the users are supposed to change to a different frequency. However, in certain areas of the world this frequency has been used by pranksters who listen in on the ship-to-ship traffic and then start transmitting miscellaneous, sometimes offensive or threatening, messages..

High Profile Incidents

Iran-US Naval Incident of January 2008 (see 2008 US-Iranian naval dispute)

On Monday, the 7th of January 2008, the government of the United States of America (headed by President George W. Bush) reported that a day before a number of Iranian IRGC Navy speedboats had harassed and threatened US warships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz (a narrow passageway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman). In a video clip released by the administration, a crew member on one particular warship was heard speaking the following on a communications radio.

"This is coalition warship. I am engaged in transit passage in accordance with international law. I maintain no harm. Over!"

This is followed by more footage of a number of smaller speedboats travelling at high speed around a number of US warships while the same warship member is heard speaking on the radio, warning five unidentified crafts that they were approaching coalition warships and asking them to identify themselves and report their intentions. Later the crew member is heard warning the crafts to stay away before a heavily accented voice is heard replying:

"I am coming to you... You will explode in... minutes."

The US administration used this incident - which occurred three days before President Bush was due to travel to Israel and Arab states of the Persian Gulf for talks on the Israeli-Palestinian relations, US arms sales to the Gulf Arab States, and US's claim that Iran was a dangerous nation with intentions of producing nuclear weapons (see Nuclear program of Iran) - as a good example of irresponsible, provocative, and aggressive behaviour of the Iranian government , with President Bush warning that "all options are on the table to secure" US military assets

Iranian government played down the incident as nothing but a routine encounter occurring between naval vessels for the purpose of identifying each other and later released its own video clip of the incident, recorded on one of the Iranian speedboats. This clip begins with moving images of a number of warships and an Iranian voice is heard, in Farsi, attempting to read the side number of one of the warships ("73"). Later an Iranian IRGC naval personnel is shown speaking into a radio transmitter, at some distance from a number of warships.

"Navy warship 73; This is Iranian navy patrol boat on channel 16. Come in! Over!"

An American voice is heard replying:

"This is coalition warship 7 3. Roger! Over!"

After a repeat of the conversation the Iranian personnel is heard asking the coalition warship to switch to channel 11 with the American voice replying that they were shifting to channel 11. The Iranians are heard shifting to channel 11 and continuing their conversation with the warship personnel. The clip ends, showing no confrontation or threatening language used by either side.

Having compared the two clips and the voices heard on the radio, a number of news correspondents reported that the threatening voice heard in the American clip is very much unlike that of the Iranian naval personnel shown in the Iranian clip and that it was likely that the threatening voice heard on the US clip may, in fact, be that of a prankster given the nickname 'Filipino Monkey'. As the phenomenon of the 'Filipino Monkey' was well known in naval circles, some began to suspect that the whole incident was exaggerated by the US administration in preparation for support of their political aims for isolating Iran from its Arab neighbours prior to the impending visit by President Bush of the region.