Marcos rejects sending Navy ships to WPS
PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. yesterday rejected the idea of sending Navy warships to the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in the South China Sea to support Filipino fishermen, saying the move may be seen as “provocative” and may escalate tension in the area.
“We are not at war. We don’t need Navy warships,” the President said, in an ambush interview in Bulacan, when asked about the possible deployment of the Navy ships in the WPS.
Marcos said the Philippines will continue its resupply missions, protect its territorial rights, and push for peaceful resolutions.
He said sending Navy ships “will be provocative and will be seen as an escalation.”
“We don’t do that. The Philippines does not escalate tensions. Quite the opposite, the Philippines always tries to bring down the level of tension,” he also said.
China’s foreign ministry said Beijing will continue to safeguard its sovereignty, rights and interests.
“The recent maritime incidents between China and the Philippines are entirely caused by the Philippines’ persistent infringement and provocation,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular news conference.
Chinese coast guard vessels on December 4 fired water cannon and side-swiped a boat vessel of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources transporting supplies to Filipino fishermen operating in the Scarborough Shoal, a prime fishing patch, according to the Philippine Coast Guard.
Following the incident, National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said government is considering the deployment of Philippine Navy ships to secure the Filipino fishermen.
In the latest harassment case, Philippine vessels also faced “blocking, shadowing, and dangerous maneuvers” from a Chinese navy vessel.
China’s coast guard said last week that Philippine ships “dangerously approached” Beijing’s territorial waters around the Scarborough Shoal.
The Philippines filed a diplomatic protest against China, which claims almost all of the South China Sea, angering neighboring countries that dispute boundaries they say cut into their exclusive economic zones.
EXERCISES
ARMY chief Lt. Gen. Roy Galido has cited the need for huge-scale territorial defense exercises in the Army as the military is transitioning to territorial defense or external defense operations.
At a recent forum at the Army Support Command headquarters in Camp Aquino in Tarlac City, Galido said the exercises are needed amid the rising tension in the region.
“The conduct of training is now more significant as we shift our focus to external defense brought about by the increasing tensions in the region,” he said.
Galido said the key to the Army’s success in territorial defense operations “is our ability to train, develop our soldiers to be attuned to the current security situation.”
China has become aggressive in its claims in the West Philippine Sea in the past years and has harassed Philippine government vessels and aircraft and even Filipino fishing boats in the contested area.
“Apart from the optimization of our resources to sustain large-scale operations, central to our adjustments is the recognition of the importance of combined arms and joint exercises (CATEX),” said Galido.
Galido noted that CATEX equips troops with experience “necessary to succeed in complex operations.”
“Moreover, we must recognize that traditional warfare tactics may no longer suffice in the face of modern threats. This is why we also need to look at the training of our soldiers in the cyber and cognitive domains,” said Galido.
He said progressive C4s (Command and Control, Communications, Computer Systems) and electronic warfare training programs as well as civil military operations for territorial defense “are some of the ways to step up our efforts in enhancing our nation’s security.”
“What we do here is useless if we do not cultivate a mindset among our soldiers to go on training. For this reason, continue to develop a plan on how we encourage troops to go on training and courses that go beyond memorization,” added Galido.
The Philippine Army is also engaged in military exercises with like-minded nations, including United States, to hone skills on territorial defense.
The Army has acquired equipment for territorial defense operations in the past years. It is also planning to procure a BrahMos cruise missile system.
UNCLOS
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday asked concerned nations to respect the 2016 decision of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the South China Sea.
In a statement for the 42nd anniversary of the UNCLOS, the DFA said it is important for other nations to respect the decision of the UN body on setting the baselines of maritime zones with overlapping claims.
“We adhere to UNCLOS’ dispute resolution mechanisms, through the 2016 South China Sea Arbitration, underscoring that claims exceeding geographic and substantive limits of maritime entitlements under UNCLOS are without legal effect,” said the DFA.
“We continue to call for compliance with the 2016 Arbitral Award and we appreciate the growing acknowledgement of the Award as an unassailable part of the corpus of international law,” it added.
It was back in July 2016 when the arbitral court issued its ruling on the South China Sea dispute, wherein it ruled in favor of the Philippines and rejected China’s nine-dash line, among others. – With Victor Reyes, Gerard Naval, and Reuters
