Asserting sea rights: 70 percent for diplomacy, 65 percent for military moves
Credit to Author: Pia Lee-Brago| Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — Seven out of 10 Filipino adults want the Marcos administration to assert the Philippines’ territorial rights in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) through diplomacy and other peaceful methods while 65 percent of respondents support military action, according to OCTA Research’s July 22 to 26 Tugon ng Masa nationwide survey.
By “military action,” OCTA defined it to survey respondents as expanded naval patrols and Philippine troop presence in the WPS.
Visayas had the highest percentage of Filipinos at 84 percent who believe the government should prioritize defending the country’s territorial rights in the WPS through diplomacy and other peaceful means.
It was followed by Mindanao (70 percent), while the National Capital Region and balance Luzon (areas outside NCR) were statistically tied at 64 percent and 67 percent, respectively.
A majority of Filipinos across socioeconomic classes want to further assert the Philippines’ territorial rights through these means.
In Class E, eight of 10 (80 percent) want diplomacy and other peaceful methods, significantly higher than for Class ABC (58 percent) and and Class D (69 percent).
As for military action or expanded naval patrol and troop presence in the WPS, almost two-thirds or 65 percent of Filipinos support the idea.
Across major areas, around two-thirds of Filipinos want to assert the Philippines’ territorial rights through military action in NCR (71 percent), balance Luzon (69 percent) and Visayas (68 percent). In Mindanao, a slight majority of 52 percent want the measure.
Support for military action is also consistent across socio-economic classes: Class ABC (65 percent), Class D (65 percent) and Class E (66 percent).
“Completing the top three measures adult Filipinos think should be prioritized is the modernization and strengthening of the Philippine military’s capability to protect the country’s territories at 61 percent,” OCTA noted.
Across major areas, the support is highest in Mindanao at 68 percent, followed by NCR and balance Luzon at 65 and 61 percent, respectively. Visayas is at 49 percent.
Four out of ten Filipinos want to expand diplomatic efforts with countries within and outside the region to reduce tension in the area. The same number of Filipinos also want to conduct joint maritime patrol and exercises with ally countries.
There are 50 percent of Filipinos in Mindanao who want to expand diplomatic efforts with other nations. Four out of 10 in NCR (43 percent) and balance Luzon (41 percent) want the same. The lowest percentage is in Visayas at 26 percent.
As for shelving disputes for joint economic development of the area, only 19 percent of Filipinos support the idea.
Meanwhile, the Philippines lodged on Aug. 7 a strongly worded diplomatic protest over China’s latest aggression in the WPS on Aug. 5. The diplomatic protest was presented by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Maria Theresa Lazaro to Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian.
The China Coast Guard on Aug. 5 blocked BRP Cabra, BRP Malabrigo and two other Filipino vessels that were on their way to Ayungin Shoal to deliver provisions to a small Marine outpost on the grounded BRP Sierra Madre. The Chinese used water cannons to stop the Philippine vessels from reaching the Sierra Madre.
The blocking and water cannoning incident against Philippine vessels lasted for over an hour, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The DFA expressed disappointment that they were unable to reach Chinese counterparts through the maritime communication mechanism for several hours while the incident was occurring.
The establishment of archipelagic sea lanes will help the Philippines strengthen its national security and protect economic and environmental interests in the WPS, according to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.
“We have to make sure that the security and sovereignty of the country will be protected, including the welfare of our fellow fishermen,” Gatchalian said in Filipino.
Senate Bill 2395 or the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act would prohibit foreign vessels and aircraft from “fishing, marine bioprospecting, exploitation of marine resources, unauthorized research and survey activities, and dumping of wastes and other noxious substances.”
The measure cites the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, noting that UNCLOS “affords all ships and aircraft archipelagic sea lanes passage which may be designated by the archipelagic State over its archipelagic waters.”
The Senate recently adopted a resolution urging the DFA to bring to international attention China’s harassment of Filipino fishermen in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro yesterday criticized the Philippine military’s plan for fisherfolk to undergo military training to help defend the WPS against Chinese aggression.
“(The strategy) may prove counterproductive because it will put the very people that the military (has) to protect in danger when the Armed Forces of the Philippines should be the ones on the frontlines,” Castro said.
“This ploy may also be used to justify mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and use reservists as cannon fodder by the military,” she added.
Castro pushed for the realignment to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) of confidential and intelligence funds of the Office of the President, Office of the Vice President and Department of Education.
“Joint patrols of the South China Sea with ASEAN countries should also be done but not with the United States because it may just heighten the tension in the area,” she noted.
If a PCG vessel sinks after an encounter with the China Coast Guard, it could rely on another PCG vessel escorting it or the AFP Western Command to help in search and rescue operations.
“When we deploy it is always ‘buddy-buddy’. We do not deploy one PCG vessel in one incident only. For instance, (if) there is a ramming incident and there are PCG personnel, and their ship sank, the other PCG vessel should conduct a search and rescue operation to save our Coast Guard sailors,” PCG-WPS spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela said in an interview with podcast Facts First.
Tarriela noted that the PCG can ask WesCom for help.
“In case of incidents that we could anticipate such as the ramming incident, we can still rely on the Philippine Navy vessels who are on standby and staying in that particular vicinity,” he added. — Cecille Suerte Felipe, Sheila Crisostomo, Evelyn Macairan