Am I? Really, what real consequence would there be for the Filipino (not just the crew)?
Even assuming they were bold enough to assume a PLAN vessel would not use military force (which in this case is a reasonable assumption), directly physically confronting a larger vessel built to naval standards is not done trivially due to risk of coming off worse in a collision (with associated ship damage, loss and crew injury or death being the potential consequences).
And even if the PCG ship was further emboldened by the 052D seeking to withdraw, the destroyer being in this position is odd to begin with, and the 052D should have the speed and mass to extricate itself even if it may not have the turn radius of smaller vessels, such that any smaller vessel can simply be ignored by sheer mass.
At the very least, there should have been many more tactical decisions available than plowing onto the flanks of the PCG vessel with a destroyer.
Unlike other navies, PLAN captains are not the supreme authority on their ship, so I don't see an individual going gung-ho as a likely explanation.
The command structure of the PLAN are not so rigid that ship COs rely on higher authorities for every tactical decision.
As I said, this is either the CO not observing ROEs (a CO problem), or the ROEs themselves being the issue (a higher level command problem), I suppose you can consider which would be more of a ridiculous prospect.
