The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) insisted on Tuesday, Feb. 10, that it will continue its transparency initiative in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), stressing that telling the truth about China’s aggressive and illegal actions in the area is not an “irritant” to diplomacy but part of its mandate to defend national sovereignty.

Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, AFP spokesperson for the WPS, asserted that the campaign is a vital tool against foreign interference.

“Yes, the transparency initiative will continue. This is an effort of the AFP to counter foreign malign influence and intervention. It is nothing but merely saying the truth on what is happening out there in the West Philippine Sea,” he explained.

The military’s stance comes after a letter from Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Maria Teresa Lazaro to Senator Risa Hontiveros dated January 20 where she pointed out the agency’s stand on the heated exchange of views of Chinese diplomats and Philippine officials on the WPS issue.

In the letter, the DFA chief reiterated that differences and disputes between States are “best addressed through established diplomatic channels rather than in public,” which some security analysts interpreted as her saying the transparency initiative was an “irritant” to the diplomacy efforts of the DFA.

In an article written on a national daily by Jeffrey Ordaniel, lead convenor of The Manila Dialogue on the South China Sea and an associate professor of International Security Studies at Tokyo International University, he said that the DFA under Lazaro’s leadership “perceives the credible, timely, and graphic documentation and public exposure of Chinese aggression against Philippine public vessels and Filipino fishermen, not as strategic necessity, but as an irritant depriving it of ‘diplomatic space.’”

For his part, Trinidad said the AFP does not measure its actions based on perceived diplomatic effects.

“I believe it is not for us to say what the effect our statements are. The stand of the AFP under the transparency initiative is to tell the story as it is. WPS is ours, we get hit by coercive and aggressive actions,” he said matter-of-factly.

He cited China’s long-standing illegal presence in the WPS as the cause of all tensions in the area.

However, he expressed hope that the appointment of DFA Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Rogelio Villanueva Jr. as the agency’s new spokesperson on maritime issues would unify the messaging between the military and the foreign affairs department.

Villanueva is a colleague of Trinidad in the Philippine Navy (PN). Villanueva joined the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in 1994 when it was still part of the PN. The PCG separated from the PN in 1998.

“We have a good, good working relationship with him and with the other government spokespersons,” Trinidad said of Villanueva.

He said Villanueva’s appointment would further boost the government’s approach in addressing issues in the WPS.

“We follow the dictum that one message, many voices. One message but different messengers. So long as the message is the same, it's more effective that way. There are a lot of [messengers] but the stand of the government is very clear: West Philippine Sea is ours, we will not give up one square inch. The AFP will keep performing its mandate, and we have been performing it ever since,” Trinidad underscored.