The Philippines has no “dependence relations” with other countries to bolster its defense posture in the West Philippine Sea.
National Security Council Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya, who is also the concurrent spokesperson of National Task Force West Philippine Sea, particularly said the country is not dependent on the United States to secure the country’s exclusive economic zone in WPS.
“Hindi ko maintindihan ‘yung konsepto ng umaasa sa kaalyado kasi hindi naman ‘yung Estados Unidos ang nagdadala ng supplies sa Ayungin Shoal, sa BRP Sierra Madre (I don’t understand the concept that we are just relying on our allies because the US was not the one bringing the supplies to BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal),” Malaya said in a radio interview over the weekend.
Malaya was pertaining to the recent rotation and resupply mission of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard in the BRP Sierra Madre, the country’s military outpost in Ayungin Shoal, which was questioned by Senator Robin Padilla because of the presence a maritime surveillance aircraft of the US Navy.
Padilla said the event may have provoked China to escalate tensions in WPS, pointing out that the country could do the resupply mission on its own sans US presence.
On 8 September, a Boeing P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft was seen accompanying a RoRe mission of the AFP’s Western Command and PCG while escorting the Philippine Navy boats traversing the Ayungin waters.
“Walang dependence relationship dito. Ito ay Philippine mission. Philippine troops ang pupunta doon, nagro-rotate, ‘yung mga vessel lahat Philippine Navy o PCG. Ang ginagawa lang ng US is to monitor what’s happening there (There was no dependence relationship here. This is a Philippine mission. Philippine troops as well as Philippine Navy or PCG vessels involved. What the US is doing is only monitoring what’s happening there),” Malaya stressed.
In a separate television interview on Monday, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Jay Tarriela earlier confirmed that there was no coordination made with the United States about the flight of surveillance along with the RoRe mission.
During the Senate joint committee inquiry Tuesday, Defense Undersecretary Ignacio Madriaga told senators that the AFP coordinated with the US.
Defense Chief Gilberto Teodoro said the aircraft was flying in the international airspace.
“Anybody can fly over there…There is freedom of navigation and overflight over the international airspace notwithstanding Ayungin is Philippine territory,” he added.
Teodoro further pressed that the Philippines is just proactively asserting its sovereign rights in WPS.
Meanwhile, AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the presence of US surveillance aircraft was just some kind of “technical support” from an ally under the Mutual Defense Treaty.
“If you are referring to the airplanes that were seen during the resupply missions, let me tell you that this is nothing new. During the Marawi siege we also received the same kind of technical support from our ally the United States and even our partner the Australian Defense Force,” he said.
Brawner noted the same aircraft had contributed to the success of government forces against the Daesh-inspired Maute group in Marawi City.
“I could say that we have been successful because of the technical assistance that we received through the airplanes that were flying above and giving us the technical and intelligence information that was very critical in identifying the positions of the Maute-ISIS and for us to be able to really neutralize them because we were very precise in our targeting,” he said.
Asked if the same presence of the US assets in the RoRe mission would become a regular thing between the two countries, US Indo-Pacific Commander Adm. John Aquilino expressed full support for the Philippines’ missions in securing its territory.
“The security environment is extremely challenging right now and I wanna thank my friend and partner, Gen. Brawner, for his leadership, as he works to protect his force and execute the missions that he’s been tasked by his leadership and as a mutual defense treaty—we coordinate every day on operations and anywhere possible that I can support my friend and partner we will,” Aquilino told the defense reporters.