AMID the escalating word war between President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte and retired Supreme Justice (SC) Antonio Carpio, Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon on Saturday said the West Philippine Sea (WPS) should be a high priority issue in the coming 2022 presidential elections.

“The SCS/WPS issue should take a high priority as presidential candidates file their Certificates of Candidacy in five months’ time. With the way things are shaping up in that maritime domain, it’s quite clear that it’ll be a focus of foreign policy by China and the United States and its allies in the coming years,” Biazon, senior vice chair of the House committee on national defense and security, said.

“With China’s long-term plan to dominate the region pitted against the Free and Open Indo-Pacific agenda of the US and its allies, the Philippines must determine how it will navigate the seeming turbulent geopolitical waters in the coming years under a new administration,” Biazon pointed out.

Biazon took note of US President Joe Biden’s statement in his first address to the Joint Session of the US Congress where he said that he told Chinese President Xi that the US “will maintain a strong military presence in the Indo-Pacific” which indicates the Americans’ commitment to have Rule of Law prevail in the West Philippine Sea to counter the Might is Right methods of China.

He added that those eyeing the presidency “should go beyond general statements and prepare a more detailed plan of action or policy direction since the repercussions to national security go beyond the six-year term of an administration.”

“Motherhood statements don’t count for anything when literally the future of the next generation of Filipinos is at stake,” Biazon said as he stressed that the Philippines must have a strategic plan to protect its interests.

“Such a Philippine strategic plan should include the consideration of having the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) focus on external defense, which would mean relying more on the Philippine Navy and Philippine Air Force, as well as the Philippine Coast Guard and even the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources,” Biazon said.

Biazon noted that shifting to an external defense-focused plan would necessitate the reapportionment of the Department of Defense budget from internal security operations (ISO) to external defense (ED).

“The SCS/WPS will become an issue of concern in the coming years. If we don’t refocus the Armed Forces of the Philippines AFP from ISO to external defense ED, we will continue to be disadvantaged and abused,” Biazon said.

“It goes beyond buying equipment. It’s going to need strategic institutional reconfiguration,” he stressed.

Previously, Biazon said the AFP should initiate and regularize maritime patrols in the West Philippine Sea in response to the swarming of Chinese Navy and Chinese Coast Guard ships and their harassment of a Filipino vessel in the Julian Felipe Reef.

“There should be no backing down now. Those patrols should be regularized. Operational cost may affect frequency, but we have to have consistency,” he said.

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Ryan Ponce Pacpaco