With additional US forces in the PH, defense chief assures no tension with China

MANILA, Philippines—The presence of additional US forces in the Philippines will not fuel tensions with China, the Department of National Defense said Friday.

“I would rather look at it from the positive point of view, na magkakaron ng stability pagka meron tayong enough deterrent, kasi kung walang deterrent, kayang-kaya tayong itulak-tulak, violation ng ating mga territories, ngayon kung meron tayong good neighbor on the block, hindi siya masyadong makakapasok, hindi tayo masyadong naaapi (there will be stability if we have enough deterrent, because if there is no deterrent, we can be easily pushed around, our territories violated. Now, if we have a good neighbor on the block, they can’t fully intrude, we can’t be bullied),” Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told reporters.

He added that that there could be no intrusions once the number of US troops increased in the region. “Baka nga wala nang intrusion pagka meron tayong mga barkong nagpa-ply dito sa area natin no. Hindi naman Philippines lang kasi malaki itong channel na ito e (There could be no more intrusions if we have ships plying our area. It’s not only Philippines because it is a big channel).”

Gazmin was asked by reporters about the Washington Times report saying the United States is in talks with Philippine officials on considering “operating Navy ships from the Philippines, deploying troops on a rotational basis and staging more frequent joint exercises.”

The defense chief said there’s no definite agreement on that.

“Wala pa, hindi pa pinag-uusapan yan eh… meron ngayong bilateral strategic dialogue na nangyayari sa US, pagbalik nun dito malalaman natin kung ano napag-usapan, pupunta rin kami dun, kaming dalawa ni Secretary Del Rosario sometime March kakausapan namin yun Secretary of Defense nila at saka si Secretary of State Clinton and discuss more (There are no talks yet on that. We have bilateral strategic dialogue taking place in the US. Once we’ve learned what they’ve talked about, we will go there, [Foreign] Secretary [Albert] del Rosario and I sometime March. We will talk to their Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State [Hillary] Clinton and discuss more),” Gazmin said.

A deployment of P3 Orion, a surveillance maritime aircraft, was also considered for deployment at Clark based on the recent Mutual Defense Board meeting in Hawaii although there was still no final word, said Gazmin.