THE Puerto Princesa
City-based Armed Forces Western Command (Wescom), which has the monicker
“all air, all sea command,” is now the top priority of the military in
terms of equipage of modern material for territorial defense, the
command’s chief, Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban, disclosed on Thursday.
“Because
of [security concerns] in the West Philippine Sea we’re now the top
priority in terms of modernization of military equipage and upgrade of
facilities,” Sabban said.
The command’s area of
jurisdiction is the whole West Philippine Sea, where the oil-rich
disputed Spratly Islands and the Malampaya gas project are located.
At
least nine islands and reefs called the Municipality of Kalayaan Island
Group (KIG) in the Spratlys are being claimed by the Philippines.
The other claimants are China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia. China is the most aggressive claimant.
Another
part of the West Philippine Sea that is being claimed by China is the
Panatag Shoal, a fishing ground which is just 124 nautical miles from
Masinloc, Zambales. The area is well within the 200-nautical-mile
exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Philippines.
The Philippines and China have been in a standoff over the shoal since April 10.
On
Thursday the Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Jessie Dellosa, visited
Wescom to assess the status and readiness of the command for territorial
defense.
“We
showed him [Dellosa] all our military installations across Palawan. He
emphasized that Wescom is now the main concern of the Armed Forces,”
Sabban said.
He said the command would be provided with frigates, reconnaissance planes and radars for maritime security operations.
He
added that the acquisition of modern equipment for the command “is in
consonance with the national policy” of President Aquino in preparing
the country to have a credible defense in order to “be able to protect
our sovereignty and territory.”
“We
have to modernize our equipment as we hasten our maritime domain
awareness. We have to strive to modernize our military until we have
credible defense equipment which can be compared to other claimant
countries,” Sabban said.
Earlier, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and the defense acquisition team went to Italy to shop for naval assets.
Just
the other day, Aquino said the government is planning to buy 24 jet
fighters from European countries after dropping the idea of acquiring
F-16s from the United States.
The
US has supplied the Navy a Hamilton-class cutter and is set to turn
over another one. The cutters cost the government P450 million each. The
first delivered cutter last year that was stripped of its weapons
systems and was renamed BRP Gregorio del Pilar.
Defense
and military officials hope that the second cutter would not be
stripped of its weapons before it is turned over to the Philippines. It
is expected to arrive in the country in December.
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Zaff Solmerin | BusinessMirror.Com.Ph | May 17, 2012 | Article Link
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