Noy: Other Phl allies to get bases access

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s military facilities are open not only to the United States but to other allies as well, President Aquino said yesterday.

In a chance interview at Camp Crame where he turned over new service pistols to the police force, Aquino said the country needs all the help it can get from allies, particularly the US and Japan, in enhancing its defense capabilities and in dealing specifically with China’s growing military presence in the West Philippine Sea.

In Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario called for  expanded cooperation in maritime security between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the US.

Del Rosario raised the call in his address before the ASEAN-US Post Ministerial Conference.

In an interview with reporters, Aquino stressed that an access arrangement is “but the natural circumstance of” a “credible alliance” but that it would not be made permanent.

“The access, let me clarify, will not be a permanent fixture in the bases, but they are our allies,” he said.

Under such an arrangement, the President said “you will have to have mutual training and that will normally occur within our territory or the allies’ territory.”

He emphasized that the US and Japan are the Philippines’ “strategic partners.” The country has military partnership with other countries including Australia and India, among others.

“If we don’t get in touch with them in putting order to our system in cases of conflict, then I think that is the kind of wrong preparation. So, they also need someone who knows our terrain, and we also need inter-operability with them,” Aquino stressed.

He added it was for such reason that the country’s joint exercise with the US was aptly called Balikatan, or shoulder to shoulder.

Aquino’s pronouncement came amid concerns raised by some lawmakers and militant groups that the US would be given greater access to Philippine military facilities in violation of the Constitution.

It was Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin who first revealed the government plan, citing rising security threat from China.

“If and when there is agreement on the access, then there will be equipment coming in from the (United) States,” Gazmin told a joint news conference in Manila after meeting with his visiting Japanese counterpart, Minister Itsunori Onodera.

“Now as far as Japan is concerned, we do welcome other countries – particularly Japan since Japan is a strategic partner – in accordance with our existing protocols,” he said.

The Asia-Pacific security talks in Brunei opened yesterday with Beijing under pressure over its South China Sea claims.

The annual regional forum hosted this year by Brunei began a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry closed ranks with Southeast Asian nations in urging substantive talks on the disputed South China Sea in comments targeted at Beijing.

Concerns have been rising that actions by China to increase its grip on disputed islets in the sea, a key corridor for regional and world trade, could lead to conflict with rival claimants.

China claims virtually all of the South China Sea and has long resisted moves to talk with the ASEAN grouping as a whole, reluctant to cede any ground on its claims.

On Sunday in Brunei, it agreed with ASEAN to begin discussing a code of conduct, but a senior US government official played down the move as a bid to deflect criticism.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “it’s not enough to simply promise some form of talks in the run-up to a multilateral meeting as a way of abating criticism and creating the appearance of progress.”

China was sending a conflicting message by sending large numbers of fishing or law enforcement vessels to hotly disputed areas, the official added, calling such behavior “highly problematic and destabilizing.”

No to war

President Aquino, meanwhile, reiterated the government’s position against the use of force in protecting the country’s territory.

“We must arrive at a solution acceptable to all parties,” Aquino told reporters at Camp Crame. 

He said the Philippines turned to the United Nations for arbitration as a matter of “right” to push for its claim.

“We will try our best to avoid reaching a point where there will be hostilities,” Aquino said.

He stressed it would be counterproductive to use force in resolving maritime disputes as the Philippines has been working for peace, stability and development in the region.

Aquino’s pronouncement came after Del Rosario revealed over the weekend a “massive presence of Chinese military and paramilitary ships” at Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal and Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.

Del Rosario described the Chinese presence at the islets as “threats to efforts to maintain maritime peace and stability in the region.”

He did not give details of the alleged buildup but said the Chinese action violated a pact in 2002 in which rival claimants to areas in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea pledged not to take any actions that may increase tensions in the region.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the Philippines would not dignify statements from Chinese media calling Manila a “troublemaker” intent on sabotaging China’s relations with the US and Japan and on “poisoning the atmosphere” in the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting.

“What is clear is that the Philippines has availed of the right approach – rules based, the right process – arbitration and the right venue,” Lacierda said. 

Expanded cooperation

In calling for greater US-ASEAN cooperation in maritime security, Del Rosario said the issue has gained greater importance in the region where areas believed to be rich in resources are being claimed by several nations.

He said the region currently relies on the Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum (EAMF), which he called “an appropriate mechanism for dialogue and interaction” on maritime issues.

EAMF was conceived in Manila in October 2012. 

He also called on ASEAN members to comply “in utmost good faith” with the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (DOC) in the South China Sea as they try to finalize a Code of Conduct (COC).

He said a consensus to finalize a COC was arrived at during the recent ASEAN-China Post Ministerial Conference.

“More important than joint cooperative undertakings, the DOC’s core principles are peaceful settlement of disputes, restraint in the conduct of parties, the non-use of force, respect for international law including UNCLOS, and non-occupation of unoccupied rocks, reefs, shoals and other features in the South China Sea,” Del Rosario said. He stressed that the Philippines “is fully committed to work with all ASEAN members in partnership with China.”

He said Manila’s resorting to arbitration was a “friendly attempt” to find a lasting solution to the West Philippine Sea issue. “It is unfortunate that the member-state declined our invitation to join us in this arbitration,” he added.

Phl demonized

Meanwhile, the Philippines is being demonized as aggressor by state-controlled media in China, an official who requested anonymity said.

The official said Beijing mounted a propaganda campaign against the Philippines immediately after its forces took control of Panatag Shoal. Accounts by the state media said Manila had deployed dozens of warships including frigates in the South China Sea to expand Philippine territory and harassed Chinese fishermen.

“They have been bombarding their own people with wrong information through their controlled media outlets,” the source said.

A survey done at the height of the Panatag standoff purportedly showed that most Chinese – blinded by state propaganda – were eager to join an invasion of the Philippines, the source said.

“They do not even know where Pag-Asa Island is, yet the mere mention of Nansha Islands, the Chinese without any qualm will jump and declare that the area belongs to them,” the source said.

“Contrary to Beijing’s propaganda they have been peddling with their own people, we don’t even have a missile-firing ship and don’t have that much naval assets to confront the intruding Chinese warships in the West Philippine Sea. It’s their own gunboats which have been harassing us out there in the Spratlys,” he stressed.

At the Supreme Court, militant groups yesterday filed an urgent motion for Temporary Environmental

Protection Orders (TEPO) against the activities of US forces in the country. The motion is part of an earlier petition for Writ of Kalikasan filed in connection with the grounding of the USS Guardian at Tubbataha Reef.

Palawan Bishop Pedro Arigo led the petitioners.

“The growing rotational presence in the country of these US troops renders our marine protected areas highly vulnerable to destruction and degradation given the influx of military personnel, weaponry and naval and ground vessels,” said Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes. – With Aurea Calica, Pia Lee-Brago, Jaime Laude, Rhodina Villanueva