AFP eyes maritime militia in WPS

Senators  want intel funds realigned to Coast Guard

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine military is considering the deployment of militia forces in the West Philippine Sea to augment patrol capabilities.

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the militia will be drawn from the AFP’s reserve force and possibly among fisherfolk.

Asked yesterday if the AFP is considering the deployment of maritime militias, Brawner replied, “Yes, it’s part of our plans… part of our reserve force development.”

Brawner said the program includes the development of both land-based reservists and those “who will be able to operate in the sea.”

Deployment, however, will have to wait for the vessels that can be used by the militias as well as the funding.

“But definitely we are pursuing that direction, (so the deployment will be) very soon,” he said.

The AFP is also considering the deployment of more vessels and aircraft to patrol the country’s maritime exclusive economic zone, but Brawner said more funds are needed for this.

A possible source of funding could come from the confidential and intelligence fund in the 2024 budget. The proposed P9.2-billion CIF should be realigned to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) amid China’s aggressions in the West Philippine Sea, according to opposition senators.

The China Coast Guard, unlike the civilian Philippine Coast Guard, is under China’s Central Military Commission  – the highest body supervising all the military commands in that country. The CCG’s missions include maritime law enforcement as well as combat operations. It is authorized to use lethal force against foreign vessels. The CMC is chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“We need to strengthen our presence in the WPS and this will entail more funds. We will ask the Congress to allocate more funds in the WPS,” Brawner said in Filipino yesterday.

“We shouldn’t just focus on Ayungin Shoal and BRP Sierra Madre. We are looking at the whole picture of the WPS and we are occupying other islands,” he added.

Brawner said they will speak with reservists to establish a presence in the area, acknowledging that the Philippines has “lesser number of ships, even fishing vessels.”

He also revealed that they have recorded more than 400 foreign vessel incursions in the WPS.

Meanwhile, the military has had its suspicions regarding Chinese fishing vessels.

“These fishing vessels are really militia… they seem to be working (and) taking orders from the Chinese Coast Guard,” said AFP Western Command chief Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos.

In the Aug. 5 incident, there were additionally some 12 Chinese militia vessels aside from the six CCG ships in the area, according to Carlos.

The China Coast Guard on Aug. 5 blocked and fired water cannons at Philippine Coast Guard vessels on a resupply mission near Ayungin Shoal.

China earlier claimed that the Philippines promised 24 years ago to remove BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin Shoal. Marcos said he is not aware of any agreement on the matter, and if it does exist, he would rescind it.

CIF realignment

Opposition Senators Aquilino Pimentel III and Risa Hontiveros vowed to criticize the P9.2-billion CIF in the 2024 budget, of which P4.5 billion are earmarked for President Marcos, P500 million for Vice President Sara Duterte and P1.7 billion for the Department of National Defense.

“I’m not a big fan of giving agencies — which have nothing to do with law enforcement, public order, or national security — the so-called CIF,” Pimentel told ANC’s “Headstart” on Wednesday.

“I think we should support the increase of intel funds to actual intelligence gathering agencies. The PCG may well be one of those agencies in this day and age, especially as we square off with China,” Hontiveros said in Filipino in an interview with CNN Philippines’ “The Source” also on Wednesday.

Pimentel noted that Duterte’s CIF allocation is significantly larger than that of former vice president Jejomar Binay (2010-2016). Former vice president Leni Robredo (2016-2022) had no CIF allocation.

Duterte defended her office’s CIF allocation, claiming that “education is intertwined with national security” and it is important to mold children “who are patriotic, who will love our country and defend our country.”

The vice president expressed her desire to be defense chief during the 2022 elections, but Marcos assigned her as education chief instead. Marcos said on Jan. 24 last year that it was a “good idea” to give her the defense portfolio.

Pimentel explained that the CIF, intended for surveillance and intelligence gathering and classified by nature, would open the floodgates for other agencies to seek the budget.

“It will really set a trend among civilian agencies... The agency must be involved in law enforcement, maintaining public order or national security. That’s why you have to give them flexibility,” he said.

The PCG only has a P10 million CIF allotment since 2009, according to PCG spokesperson for West Philippine Sea commodore Jay Tarriela in an ANC interview.

Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Escudero vowed to scrutinize the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)’s proposed P1.6 billion intended to accelerate the national ID system.

The PSA has proposed a total of P8.8 billion for its 2024 budget.

Escudero noted that the slow pace of issuing IDs has affected the willingness of people to register in the national ID system.

“Which explains why 33 million people have not registered. The target clients have lost interest,” he said.

Escudero will ask the PSA and its printer Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for parameters in speeding up the issuance of national IDs.

“If the National Expenditure Program is the basis, their performance outcome is vague, so I would like them to present a clearer target,” he added.

2016 ruling 

In a joint statement, retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio and former senator Richard Gordon said that China should abide by the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

“Ayungin Shoal is well within Philippine exclusive economic zone as expressly ruled in the July 12, 2016 Arbitral Award issued by the arbitral tribunal created under the (United Nations) Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS,” they said.

China is a signatory to the 1982 UNCLOS.

The 2016 award in favor of the Philippines debunked China’s nine-dash line virtually claiming the entire South China Sea.

“As declared in the Arbitral Award, Ayungin Shoal, being a submerged area at high tide and beyond the territorial sea of any high tide feature, is not subject to the sovereignty of any state. China’s claim to sovereignty to Ayungin Shoal is totally baseless and contrary to UNCLOS and international law,” they added.

Vietnam

An agreement between the Philippines and Vietnam would “bring an element of stability to the problems that we are seeing now in the South China Sea,” according to President Marcos.

Marcos spoke at the farewell call of Vietnamese Ambassador Hoang Huy Chung in Malacañang yesterday.

Chung said that Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong was thankful to the Philippines for working closely with Vietnam, especially in their common interest in the WPS and the prevention of further incidents in Philippine waters.

“I really believe that we have to make these bilateral agreements. I think you will not be surprised and I think I’m not giving away any confidence that we will like to have these bilateral agreements as well with the other countries within (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations),” Marcos said. — Neil Jayson Servallos, Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Alexis Romero