Senator Francis Tolentino (Senate PRIB)


Senator Francis "Tol" Tolentino on Monday, April 17,  proposed for the country’s Balikatan Exercises with the United States (US) to include in upcoming drills the evacuation simulation of more than 150,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) based in Taiwan as a precautionary measure should the geopolitical tension between China and Taiwan worsen. “I advise the head of the Balikatan Gaming Exercise—Philippine side—isama na rin sa practice next year kung paano tayo mag e-evacuate using ships/sasakyang pandagat galing Taiwan papunta ng  (to include in next year’s practice how vessels could be used to evacuate OFWs to) Cagayan or Batanes in case—for contingency,” Tolentino. Tolentino is vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security. He stressed that sea evacuation is the most feasible type of evacuation plan to quickly repatriate OFWs working in Taiwan as The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the island nation is “highly vulnerable” to air attack from China’s People’s Liberation Army-Air Force and “is unlikely to thwart Chinese military air superiority in a cross-strait conflict". Tolentino added that the participation of commercial vessels in the evacuation simulation should be also considered to hasten the repatriation of affected OFWs in case a full-scale conflict between Beijing and Taipei escalates along the Taiwan Strait. He strongly suggested that private ships could be contracted  since a C-130 could not accommodate 150,000 OFWs. Tolentino, who is also the vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, also reminded Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian that the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) or the Balikatan Exercises were “not designed for any skirmishes in the Taiwan Strait” but rather for the protection of the Republic of the Philippines. “Yung EDCA ay para sa proteksyon ng Pilipinas, hindi to project military force outside the jurisdiction of the Philippines (EDCA is for the protection of the Philippines, not to project military force outside the Philippines),” Tolentino stressed. The senator also advised China’s top diplomat in the country “to exercise prudence in the manner he speaks” to further improve the current relations between Manila and Beijing. Senator Risa Hontiveros had wanted Huang to leave the Philippines for his undiplomatic utterances that the Philippines  should  ‘’unequivocally oppose Taiwan’s independence" and take into consideration the livelihood of 150,000 OFWs working in Taiwan.