Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana and newly installed Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay defended President Duterte on Monday over his “weak” and “defeatist” stance with China over the issue of the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
During his State of the Nation Address early last week, the Commander in Chief admitted that he was “inutile [useless or incapable]” in defending the country’s maritime territory against Beijing, reiterating his previous statement that he could not afford to go into war with the Chinese.
The President’s admission drew flak from various sectors and even from former government officials, including retired Senior Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who said that Duterte need not go to war with China just to keep the country’s territorial stake.
They cited the examples of Malaysia and Indonesia who are resisting Beijing’s incursions into their maritime territories.
“As far as the West Philippine Sea issue is concerned, our President, our national government is just adopting a realistic and pragmatic approach and strategy in really going about the problem, without of course undermining our national interest,” Gapay said.
“We know that that is still our territory, up to the 12-mile Exclusive Economic Zone. For the information of everyone, the President has never given an instruction to stop the Armed Forces from patrolling that area, day in, day out. Our Air Force, our Navy continuously patrol that area, our territory in that West Philippine Sea,” he added.
The top military official said the Armed Forces is toeing the “national direction” in addressing the territorial issue, or “conflict,” peacefully “based on the rule of law.”
“So those are our guiding principles as we perform our mandate in upholding our sovereignty and preserving our national, our territorial integrity in that West part of our country,” Gapay added.
Lorenzana, for his part, admitted that President Duterte’s remarks on the territorial defense have drawn flak from some sectors but explained the Commander in Chief was just pragmatic and realistic in looking at and in addressing the issue.
“Yes, a lot of criticisms have been hurled at the President for his alleged defeatist attitude, or stance on our maritime dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea. Now, when he said that inutile, I don’t think that he is saying that,” the defense chief said.
“I believe he is not being defeatist, he is just being pragmatic and realistic. You know there are so many countries who are getting involved here, in the South China Sea, but they have different interests than the Philippines,” he added.
Lorenzana said the interests of other countries on the South China Sea only revolves around the issue of access, or freedom of navigation.
“We have other issues in the South China Sea like how are we going to exercise our sovereign rights to exploit the resources, but other countries are not involved [in this]. It’s only between us and China, and so the President’s tact is to sit down with China and resolve this issue,” Lorenzana said.
The defense secretary said Beijing is “amenable” to this scheme, adding “there have been ongoing talks already about sharing our resources, extraction of the resources.”
Some had claimed that President Duterte’s controversial statement has emboldened China to aggressively pursue its overlapping maritime claims, sending a plethora of military, paramilitary and militia vessels in the WPS that even harasses or intimidates not only Filipino fishermen but even the resupply missions of the military for its detachments in that area. Rene Acosta