THE Philippines is not being used by other nations in their fight against China, Sen. Francis Tolentino said yesterday amid escalating tension due to Chinese incursions in Philippine territory in the West Philippine Sea.
The latest incident was on Friday last week when Chinese vessels tried to block a resupply mission to Filipino troops stationed at the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal.
“This is not a proxy war because the United States is not our only ally. We are also allied with Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Europe… I also mentioned in recent weeks that India came out as an ally. So almost every nation,” he said in Filipino in an interview with dzBB.
Tolentino made the remark as President Marcos Jr, during the 43rd Association of Southeast Asia Nations summit in Indonesia last week, rejected “misleading narratives that frame the dispute in the South China Sea solely through the lens of strategic competition between two powerful countries” — the US and China.
Tolentino said with China’s latest declaration of a 10-dash line in the South China Sea, other ASEAN countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei may also become vocal against China’s acts of aggression in the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, in a radio interview last Saturday, said defenders of Philippine sovereignty in the WPS like the Philippine Coast Guard and Philippine Navy should have full logistical and operational support from the government by way of getting an increase in their confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs).
Zubiri said that the CIFs of the PCG and PN, tasked to protect the national territory in the WPS from China’s aggression, are at a measly P10 million and P39.74 million, respectively.
He said that once the Senate receives the 2024 national budget from the House of Representatives, it will push for realignments in the CIFs to boost the capabilities of the PCG and PN.
The PCG’s intel funds remained at P10 million since 2022, though the agency’s proposed total allocation in the 2024 National Expenditure Program increased to P24.01 billion from P21.92 billion in 2023.
