Photo from Philippine Coast Guard’s Facebook page
MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has rejected the request of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to open 11 archipelagic sea lanes.
“Why I turned down Coast Guard insistence on opening 11 archipelagic lanes instead of 3 the DA, DND, NSA (Department of Agriculture, Department of National Defense, National Security [Council]) and other agencies to do with fisheries and marine conservation,” he said in a tweet on Monday.
“With 11, might as well turn over our territorial waters to the nearest naval power. Cheaper than patrolling,” he added.
Locsin’s pronouncement was in reaction to a report regarding the Philippine Navy’s opposition to a plan by the Cavite provincial government to move the military service command out of Sangley Point in Cavite as part of a P500-billion airport project seen to ease congestion at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.
Currently, there are pending measures in Congress seeking to allow the Philippines to identify its archipelagic sea lanes and designate where civilian and military ships could pass through.