No country can dictate on Philippines defense decisions – AFP

MANILA, Philippines — No country or entity can dictate on the Philippines, especially on defense and security matters, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said yesterday as it assailed China for raising a howl over the deployment in Northern Luzon of US Typhon missile launchers, while deploying its own warships and coast guard vessels in the West Philippine Sea.

A Reuters report said the military has moved its Typhon launchers from Laoag airfield to an undisclosed location also in Luzon.

China earlier assailed the Philippines for allowing the deployment, saying it could “provoke geopolitical confrontation and an arms race.”

“There is no single entity who can dictate how we would do our deployments in terms of our defenses,” said AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla.

“It’s an inherent right of every state to heighten and strengthen their defenses accordingly. How we would go about it is for us to freely do so. No one can dictate on us on how we would do it,” she said.

Padilla stated that it’s China’s presence and aggression in the West Philippine Sea that are “highly dangerous.”

“The presence of their ships, also missile-capable, are also highly dangerous. Inherently, our country is not on the offensive. Constitutionally, we are on the defense side of things,” Padilla said.

“They also have artificial islands in the South China Sea that are altogether militarized and missile-capable,” she added.

She stated that the presence of the Mid-Range Capability (MRC) system in the country is in line with its longstanding defense relationship with the United States. The primary objective of the deployment is to strengthen Philippine military readiness, improve familiarization and interoperability with advanced weapon systems and support regional security. — Ghio Ong, Jose Rodel Clapano, Artemio