The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will engage in more activities with its military allies this year in the West Philippine Sea and other parts of the country in order to further improve defense partnerships and interoperability, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said.

Teodoro said several allied countries have already expressed interest in strengthening military partnership with the Philippines, including the United Kingdom and Canada whose defense officials have already signed an agreement with their Filipino counterparts.

“We will increase the tempo of activities with allies and other major partners not only in the West Philippine Sea but in other areas of the country. We will exercise these partnerships to the full and it is within our unquestionable right to do so as a sovereign country,” said Teodoro in a forum organized by the Manila Overseas Press Club in Makati City.

Teodoro said the agreements he signed with the UK and Canada will allow Philippine access to different defense-related capabilities with the two countries.

Aside from the UK and Canada, he said several other countries have signified interest to further boost mutual defense cooperation.

On the part of Japan for instance, Teodoro said the Department of National Defense is already on a last stretch of signing a reciprocal access agreement which is similar to the concept of the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States.

“This will allow interoperability between that country and us, and these commitments and these activities are based on a common understanding of the value of a rules based international order,” said Teodoro.

In revealing the increased military exercises with Philippine allies, the Defense Chief then cited the importance of the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea and the UN Tribunal’s decision which invalidated China’s claim of almost the entire South China Sea.

The Philippine government has been protesting China’s harassment and increased military presence even in areas in South China that are well within the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines.

Several foreign countries have called out China’s harassment on Philippine vessels and cited the need to respect UNCLOS.

Standing up for future generations

“In these values and the values naturally of free societies and a free and open Indo-Pacific, there is an alignment of interests between our countries and I feel that these alignments are vital not only to secure our country's Exclusive Economic Zone and all its resources for us, but more importantly to secure them for the future generations,” said Teodoro.

As a small and archipelagic country, Teodoro explained that the land mass is getting smaller due to the increase in Philippine population.

He emphasized if the Philippines would not stand up to protect its territory, these will have serious implications for future generations of Filipinos.

“We are small country, archipelagic country, the land mass is getting smaller, our population is getting bigger, our resource needs are just exponentially increasing so these resources must be secured for the future generations,” said Teodoro.

“If we do not stand up to the illegal and unilateral encroachment of these resources through a distorted nine or ten dash line which nobody in the world accepts, then we will be guilty of acquiescence and we can be open to a rewriting of international law through constant practice by a stronger power which the Marcos administration has sworn not to do,” he stressed.

PBBM’s support

Teodoro said President Marcos has been very supportive of the ways to improve the country’s defense capabilities, including the Re-horizoned Capability Enhancement and Modernization Program.

The program, according to Teodoro, includes an array of capabilities ranging from domain awareness, connectivity, command and control of areas within the Philippine territory, intelligence capabilities and deterrence capabilities.

He said this will be backed by the DND’s request to the Congress for more budget to ensure adequate maintenance and operating funds to use, train and to have a greater exposure and mobility in areas where the military need to have significant presence—including the West Philippine Sea.

This is important, he said, in this time in the West Philippine Sea “where we cannot tolerate violations of our territorial integrity by anyone and far enough that is the standing order of the president in so far as we are concerned.”

Teodoro did not say what specific assets will be acquired under the Re-horizoned 3 phase of the modernization program. But the Re-horizoned 3 is a revision of the Horizon 3 projects identified by the defense and military established a few years ago.