Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana belied on Monday claims of a reported demoralization within the ranks of the military, as a result of the way President Duterte has been handling the issue of West Philippine Sea (WPS) with China.
The defense chief was reacting to the statement of Party-List Rep. Gary C. Alejano of Magdalo that soldiers are demoralized over the way Duterte is behaving in relation to the territorial dispute with Beijing.
“Go to the field, our troop[s] are in very high morale…they are doing their best to protect our country. Now, the West Philippine Sea issue is another issue, but within the AFP [Armed Forces], our soldiers’ morale is high,” Lorenzana said.
Alejano earlier claimed that the demoralization was caused by the supposed order by the President for the Armed Forces stop patrolling the West Philippine Sea.
Lorenzana and AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. belied Alejano’s claim supposedly sourced from senior military officials.
“He [Duterte] did not even hint that they [the AFP] stop patrolling [and] that’s why we are [conducting] regular [patrols] there,” Lorenzana said.
Meanwhile, the defense secretary also said the previous administration “mismanaged” the issue of the WPS and President Duterte is now doing very well in mending Philippine ties with China.
Lorenzana said that when Duterte assumed office in June 2016, there was tension between Beijing and Manila, and that trade with China had stopped.
He added Filipinos cannot also fish at the Scarborough Shoal, while Chinese tourists shun the country.
“Now, we sell our bananas there, they buy all our bananas, their tourists here have doubled, we can fish there and our troops are not [being] harassed except [for] that isolated incident in Ayungin Shoal. Is that mismanagement? We have managed it very well through the President’s leadership,” Lorenzana stressed.
“For me, that is not mismanagement. The one that mismanaged was the previous administration…” the defense chief said.
Lorenzana also doused speculations relating to the landing of a Chinese cargo plane in Davao City on Friday.
He said that the Chinese plane made prior coordination with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines for the stop over.
The defense chief, however, admitted that he only learned about the presence of the Chinese aircraft in Duterte’s home city after the plane has already landed.
“They [Chinese] have coordination to land in Davao to refuel then en route to Caerns, Australia…upon its return it will refuel again, that’s the arrangement. So nothing unusual there, other countries do that also, landing to refuel,” Lorenzana said.