Malacañang on Thursday denied the disputes with other countries over
territories in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) were the reason
for the increased US presence in the Philippines that was announced by
President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday.
Secretary Edwin Lacierda, Mr. Aquino’s spokesperson, nevertheless
acknowledged that the rise in the numbers of US troops and vessels
visiting the country would contribute to the stability of the region, as
well as improve the Philippine military’s capability to protect the
country.
Military ‘updates’
Lacierda said the beefed-up US presence was not related to the
territorial disputes with China and other claimant-countries to the
Spratlys and other potentially rich islands in the West Philippine Sea.
“No, it’s in line with the belief of the President [that] we have to
update our military training and capability,” he said during the daily
Malacañang news briefing.
“As you know, our military hardware are not quite up to date with
[that of] our neighbors. So it’s imperative for us to update our
military hardware and that’s for purposes of the protection of our
country as well. But this is primarily to improve our military training
and capability,” he said.
As for whether an increased US presence would contribute to stability
in the West Philippine Sea, Lacierda said: “It will certainly.
He reiterated, however, that the primary reason for expanding the
joint military exercises with the United States was the expected
improvement in the capability of the Philippine military.
“What we can say for certain is that the acquisition of military
hardware and the training of our Philippine troops would certainly
improve our capability to protect our borders and to protect ourselves
from any threat from without,” he said.
“So that is our position. That’s the reason we’re getting training, not only from them (US), by the way,” he added.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Thursday described plans to hold
more joint military training exercises with the United States as an
“expanded VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement), but definitely with no bases”
involved.
He said the “high value” and “high impact” exercises would benefit
the armed forces of both the Philippines and the US—which would be
sending over more troops—although he could not say how many servicemen
would be participating on both sides.
“I cannot be definite on the numbers but definitely there will be
more participation of forces from both the US and the Philippines,”
Gazmin told reporters during the 115th anniversary celebration of the
Philippine Army at Fort Bonifacio.
New exercises
He said the exercises would be different from those conducted in
Mindanao, which American forces traditionally visit as part of the
annual Balikatan joint training exercise.
“We are looking at exercises that will be of value to both countries,
those high-impact exercises that can help us in a lot of areas,” said
Gazmin.
He cited among these exercises at sea to help the Philippine Navy improve its emergency and disaster response skills.
President Aquino earlier said the Philippines was looking to the
United States for help in building up its defense capability in the
midst of maritime tensions with China in the West Philippine Sea and
other security concerns.
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DJ Yap, Norman Bordadora | Philippine Daily Inquirer | March 23, 2012 | Article Link
