PRESIDENTIAL candidates are one in taking the position that we should defend our claim of territory and sovereign rights over portions of the South China Sea, specifically that which we call the West Philippine Sea.
Being emotional about this issue, thinking about and decrying our bigger neighbor’s attempts at bullying, will lead us nowhere. We need a strong Philippine Navy to defend, consolidate, and concretize our claim to those rocks, shoals, and islets and the rich marine and fossil fuel resources beneath them.
Any addition to the Navy’s personnel, training, firepower and floating and non-floating assets is a welcome gift to our men in uniform whose lives are at risk every day in their daunting task to defend the national territory. It is thus a glorious day when the Navy inaugurated a new naval station in Casiguran, Aurora, to bolster maritime security in the area, particularly in the Philippine Rise. Top military officials, along
‘Better training and modern weapons will go a long way in boosting the morale of the men and women of the Philippine Navy, the better for them to defend the national territory from intruders.’
with Sen. Francis “Tol” Tolentino, launched the new 12,000-hectare support facility and naval air detachment inside the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport last March 31.
The Naval Forces Northern Luzon (Navfornol) said the Casiguran base will bolster security operations in the eastern Luzon seaboard along with the station in Fuga Island in Cagayan.
Other bases under Navfornol jurisdiction are those in Bonuan, Sual, and Bolinao in Pangasinan for the western seaboard, and the bases in Itbayat and Mavulis in Batanes for the Balintang Strait.
Other lawmakers are content with just urging the Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard to do their level best in defending PHL territory. Tolentino and other senators, however, exhort the military with the same passion, but go one step farther by giving the Navy the tools they need in doing their job well.
In 2019, Tolentino filed Senate Bill 1143 or the Philippine Archipelagic Defense Act seeking to allocate funds for the creation of a “naval chain” from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi. The bill tagged the Casiguran, Aurora naval operating base as a “priority site” of the Philippine Navy’s forward operating bases under the Strategic Basing Plan 2040.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, said the nation will have to strengthen its Navy, not in the form of additional troops, but by acquiring more advanced equipment and further training. He said the troops’ technical skills must be enhanced and the “Navy officers must adjust to the modern weapons, like missiles and our Navy warships.”
Better training and modern weapons will go a long way in boosting the morale of the men and women of the Philippine Navy, the better for them to defend the national territory from intruders.m
