Countries supporting the Philippines should provide more than statements of support whenever China conducts aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

General Romeo Brawner Jr., chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said this on Tuesday, July 2, as he noted that the country needs to see “concrete actions” from its allies.

“All of these statements of support are very important to us pero sinasabi nga po namin sa ating mga kaalyado, hindi lang po sapat na magbigay kayo ng statement of support (but we are telling our allies that it is not enough to issue statement of support). Kailangan talagang magsuporta kayo in terms of action (It is a must that you provide support in terms of action),” he said in a televised briefing during a pre-State of the Nation Address (SONA) report by the AFP on Tuesday, July 2.

“Ganoon naman po ang ginagawa ng iba (That’s what other countries are doing) by joining our joint sail, by joining us in our exercises, and by helping us train and modernize. ‘Yun po ‘yung mga pwede nilang gawin na mga concrete actions para matulungan tayo (These are the concrete actions that they can do to help us),” he added.

The AFP has conducted multilateral maritime cooperative activities (MCAs) in the WPS with its counterparts from the United States, Japan, Australia and Canada to foster cooperation and keep the Indo-Pacific region open.

“Sa mga susunod na buwan, may makikitang multilateral maritime cooperative activities and this time pati ‘yung mga bansa sa Europa gustong sumama. Gustong sumama ng France, United Kingdom, Germany, pati na rin dito sa region natin ‘yung New Zealand (In the coming months, there will be multilateral maritime cooperative activities and this time, even countries from the Europe want to join. France, United Kingdom, Germany, and even New Zealand which belongs in our region want to join),” Brawner said.

“Lahat ng bansang ito (All of these countries) are welcome to join us in our joint sail,” he added.

The AFP has also been conducting military exercises with friendly nations, one of the most prominent is the Balikatan Exercise with the United States.

The military has also started the third horizon of its modernization program, dubbed as "Re-horizon 3", which is marked by the procurement of sophisticated assets for territorial defense such as fighter aircraft, warships, and radars among others.

“Masayang masaya kami na nagiging lalong malakas ang ating relasyon sa ating only treaty ally which is the United States at ‘yung ating partner nations like Australia, Japan, South Korea at marami pang iba (We are really happy that our relations with our only treaty ally, which is the United States, is getting stronger, as well as our partner nations like Australia, Japan, South Korea and many others),” Brawner said.