‘Big guns’ mulled for PCG vessels

MANILA, Philippines — While intending to stay true to its mandate to preserve peace and de-escalate tensions in the West Philippine Sea, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Tuesday that it is considering arming its vessels with “big guns.”

Interviewed by “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News, PCG spokesman Rear Admiral Armand Balilo said the possibility of arming PCG vessels will be studied, but it will still abide by its mandate to avoid any confrontation with the China Coast Guard (CCG) despite its aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea.

“Perhaps we will study and see if it is really warranted to have big guns on our ships,” Balilo, speaking partly in Filipino, said.

Balilo emphasized that all PCG vessels have no guns because they are designed mainly for maritime law enforcement and the preservation of peace, upon which their mandate was established.

However, recent aggressive behavior by CCG vessels in the West Philippine Sea has raised questions on how the PCG should respond, particularly to the laser-pointing incident that resulted in the temporary blindness of a Filipino coast guardsman.

Asked what the PCG’s plan of action would be if such aggression is repeated, Balilo said: “We’ll go back to the mandate of the coast guard... We preserve the peace and if there is such a situation, the bottom line is to de-escalate the situation.”

He said they could divert or change routes, if necessary, just to avoid any confrontation.

Asked if they intend to tweak their mandate and arm their vessels with guns similar to their Chinese counterpart’s vessels, Balilo said doing so would be costly for the government.

“It would consume a lot of money to fund having those guns. And, in the first place, arms of the coast guard are for law enforcement, not combat or even engage in a combat stance,” he said.

Coast guards around the world are “supposed to impose laws, but not to engage in any provocative stance that might lead to war,” he added.

For this reason, Balilo said he is wondering why the CCG’s vessels are armed with guns and other equipment apparently used to intimidate ships of other countries that they monitored in the waters they claim to be under their jurisdiction.

Recalling an incident in August last year in the West Philippine Sea, the PCG spokesman said Chinese naval guns were exposed as a “warning” to a PCG vessel that came close to its path, prompting them to de-escalate the situation.

Asked how they would describe China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea, Balilo said that it is a “clear flexing of muscles of China’s coast guard in the area” as they are showing their strength and intentions to prevent vessels in their so-called territories.

Balilo said that the “white-to-white ship” engagement of the Philippine government will remain in the West Philippine Sea as he emphasized that the government cannot deploy gray ships or implement the “Navy to Navy approach” as it would mean war.

Coast guard ships are white and naval or warships are gray.

“We get orders to engage them on a white-to-white diplomacy, on a white-to-white engagement. Now, if government policy requires our replacement in the area, we are bound to obey,” Balilo said.

On the aggression exhibited by the CCG in Ayungin Shoal where some Filipino fishermen were told to leave the area and shadowed by the Chinese militia as well as the directing of a military-grade laser on a PCG vessel, Balilo said photos and videos have been gathered for use by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) as evidence in a diplomatic protest against China.

However, Balilo said diplomatic protests seem useless, as “nothing is happening, we all know that as clear as the sun.”

At present, everything depends on how the Philippine government and Chinese government talk to address the problem of tensions in the West Philippine Sea, he added.

MDT might be invoked

In Congress, a senator said the country may find itself invoking the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the United States if the recent laser-pointing action by a CCG ship against a PCG vessel is repeated or any injurious incident happens.

Sen. Francis Tolentino said he disagreed with former Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio that the MDT should be invoked, but acknowledged “the alarming scale” of what Chinese coast guard vessels are doing against Philippine vessels.

“It’s not yet there, it’s almost there. An attack, probably an armed attack, can be considered as one that would be lethal, although there can be temporary blindness if that’s the right term to be used,” Tolentino told ANC, referring to the temporary loss of sight suffered by the PCG crew.

“But again, it shows the heightened provocative action being done by the Coast Guard of China and it’s nearing that point,” added the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee.

When asked what similar action could trigger the MDT, he said: “When the ship is attacked that would perhaps endanger the lives of the crew, when it would be disabled, when a maneuver is done that would disorient not just the crew members but perhaps would lead to almost capsizing. Those events that would go into that boundary of armed lethalness, lethal as a consequence,” he said.

Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito agreed with Tolentino that President Marcos did the right thing when he summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian, given past harassments done by the Chinese coast guard.

“They (China) tell us we’re friends but do something different behind our backs,” Ejercito said in Filipino.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano meanwhile urged the government to strengthen and simplify its strategy in dealing with issues in the West Philippine Sea, saying the latest incident was just “a symptom” of a more complicated underlying problem.

“We should not tolerate any form of aggression. The issue is complicated, but let us simplify it,” Cayetano, who served as foreign affairs secretary during the Duterte administration, said.

He said other countries that have dispute issues in the West Philippine Sea like Malaysia and Vietnam have strengthened their national strategies, including diplomacy and their armed forces and alliances with other countries.

In contrast, the Philippines has been changing its policies with each new administration, said Cayetano.

The advantage, however, is that the Philippines has tried both approaches and can now move forward with a better perspective.

He said the government should deliberate on whether joint military exercises and patrols with other countries in the West Philippine Sea really help or just aggravate the situation.

VFA, other alliances

In the House of Representatives, a senior lawmaker said it is time that the Philippine government negotiates with several other key allies in the region and forge military alliances that will protect the country’s national interest, like signing more visiting forces agreements with countries other than the US.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez urged the President yesterday to forge defense and security cooperation not only with Japan as reported recently, but also with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Korea.

“We should negotiate and enter into VFAs, like the one we have with the US, in the face of heightened threats from China, the latest of which is the use of a military-grade laser on our Coast Guard vessel, which temporarily blinded its personnel,” he said.

He said the continued employment by China of harassment tactics on PCG and Navy personnel and Filipino fishermen “is unacceptable and detestable and beyond the realm of civilized conduct.”

Fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) has expressed its opposition to a VFA with Japan and the triad or Tripartite Defense Agreement or among the Philippines, Japan and US.

“Like pouring gasoline on fire, a military pact with another foreign power like Japan will not de-escalate tension in the West Philippine Sea but will instead inflame it,” Pamalakaya national chairman Fernando Hicap said in a statement.

Hicap said that “the more, the merrier” foreign policy of President Marcos just demonstrates his “indignity and lack of political will to defend our country’s sovereignty, patrimony and independence.”

For his part, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers called on the government to “stand up against China aggression.”

“Now that China has finally owned up to its cowardly act of bullying us in our territorial seas, we condemn in the strongest terms these acts of aggression,” Barbers said.

Promotion

Meanwhile, the President promoted 10 PCG officials to the ranks of vice admiral and rear admiral.

Based on the list released by the Presidential Communications Office, Rear Admirals Joseph Coyme, Robert Patrimonio and Ronnie Gil Gavan now hold the rank of vice admiral, the second highest among PCG commissioned officers.

Coyme currently serves as the commander of the PCG’s Maritime Safety Services Command, while Patrimonio heads the Marine Environmental Protection Command.

Gavan, on the other hand, is the PCG’s deputy commandant for administration.

Commodores Gregorio Adel Jr., Armando Balilo, Hostillo Arturo Cornelio, Eustacio Nimrod Enriquez Jr., Edgardo Hernando, Rudyard Somera and Nelson Torre have also been promoted as rear admirals. – Paolo Romero, Delon Porcalla, Elizabeth Marcelo, Helen Flores