Former DFA chief calls for joint PH-US patrol in West PH Sea
By Roy Mabasa
Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario on Wednesday called on the Duterte administration to consider conducting joint patrols in the West Philippines Sea (WPS) with our treaty ally, the United States, to protect the country’s sovereignty and enforce the law under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Del Rosario made this suggestion following the challenges being faced by the Philippines in dealing with what he called as China’s “unilateral aggression” with the deployment of more than 200 of its vessels at Julian Felipe Reef (Whitsun Reef), an area that is within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Before stepping down as the country’s top diplomat in 2016, Del Rosario recalled that he led an official delegation to Washington, D.C. twice to meet with then US State Deputy Secretary Anthony Blinken to discuss the joint patrols in the WPS.
“An agreement on joint patrols with the US was approved but not subsequently pursued by President Duterte who did not want to displease the Chinese authorities,” Del Rosario said.
"Especially since China's duplicity has been exacerbating and since we are as well getting absolutely nowhere by appeasing our northern neighbor, it may now be imperative for us to revisit joint patrols of the WPS with our sole treaty ally as represented by the new US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken,” the former top Filipino diplomat said.
On Wednesday, the National Task Force-West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) confirmed that there are still 44 Chinese vessels remaining in Julian Felipe Reef despite calls from the Philippines and other countries for China to withdraw from the area.
The NTF-WPS also reported that a recent maritime patrol conducted by the AFP showed that aside from the 44 vessels still lingering in Julian Felipe Reef, more than 200 other ships were also seen scattered over the Kalayaan Group of Islands (KIG).
The Philippines, on March 21, 2021, filed a diplomatic protest against China following the intrusion of its huge fleet of vessels in the boomerang-shaped reef.