LRay seeks ‘fast-track’ of joint maritime patrols with allies
CAMARINES Sur Representative and National Unity Party (NUP) LRay Villafuerte on Friday expressed hope the government could fast-track separate talks with allies such as the United States (US), Japan, and Australia on the proposed conduct of joint maritime patrols in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in the South China Sea (SCS), following what Manila has condemned as Beijing’s latest “aggressive actions” in that disputed portion of our territory.
“We are hoping that our Coast Guard officials could put on the fast lane the ongoing separate talks with their counterparts in our ally-countries like the US and Japan on the proposed conduct of joint maritime patrols in the WPS where Chinese vessels have had non-stop intrusions and bellicose maneuvers, in violation of a 2016 international arbitration court ruling that such part of the SCS is Philippine territory,” Villafuerte said.
He was referring to the July 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands, which affirmed the Philippines’ claim to sovereignty over the WPS and ruled as illegal China’s “nine-dash-line” counterclaim of ownership over almost all of the South China Sea (SCS).
Villafuerte also hoped that the government could similarly continue talks with Canberra officials on possible joint patrols with Australia in the disputed territory.
He called on the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to “expand the scope of such planned joint patrols to check future Chinese incursions by initiating similar negotiations, if there aren’t any yet, with our allies other than the US and Japan that have likewise condemned what the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) described in its latest diplomatic protest as Beijing’s ‘aggressive actions’ in the WPS.”
The NUP president issued this statement as he welcomed this week’s revelation on TV by Commodore Jay Tarriela, the PCG’s spokesman on the WPS, that our Coast Guard has been negotiating with its American counterpart on possible joint patrols and that similar talks have also been initiated with the Japanese, although this one with Tokyo was still in the “infancy stage.”
Given that the PCG is no longer part of the military establishment and is now under the supervision of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Tarriela said our Coast Guard officials’ current discussions with their American counterparts are different from the decision to “restart” joint patrols that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and our Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. had reached during Austin’s Jan. 31-Feb. 2 visit to Manila.
Joint Philippine-US maritime patrols were suspended under the then-Duterte administration because of the strained ties at that time between Manila and Washington.
Villafuerte also welcomed plans on joint patrols by the Philippines and Australia, which was tackled during this week’s meeting between Galvez and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles in Manila.
