After acquiring a refurbished 40-year-old cutter from the United States, the Philippine government is looking to buy additional air assets to beef up its border patrols amid fresh intrusion by Chinese fishing boats backed by two warships near Ayungin Reef, a part of the Kalayaan Island Group on Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
This was disclosed on Sunday by President Aquino’s deputy spokesman, Abigail Valte, who confirmed in an interview over the state-run Radyo ng Bayan that after the acquisition of BRP Ramon Alcaraz, a Hamilton-class cutter used by the US Navy for over four decades, the Philippines is also negotiating to purchase helicopters to augment its Armed Forces border patrols.
“In line with the [Armed Forces] modernization that we want…. Apart from the boats, I understand, we are also acquiring helicopters to replace the ones that we have,” Valte said.
Valte, however, did not provide details of the additional military assets that the government is likely to get also from the US, which previously provided so-called excess defense articles to help the Philippines defend itself against internal and external threats.
When asked whether China has finally acknowledged a Philippine protest against the latest intrusion by at least 30 Chinese ships into the Philippine-claimed territories in the resource-rich Spratlys, she said Malacañang was leaving it up to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to pursue the complaint.
“We will have to defer to the DFA on that,” the Malacanang official said. “They would be in a better position to know what happened to it,” she added, referring to the latest formal complaint filed by the Philippines over the latest Chinese intrusion into its remote territory in the West Philippine Sea.
The President earlier indicated he favored forging fisheries agreements with neighboring countries with overlapping exclusive economic zones to avert further conflicts in the region. But, he said, the government would pursue this only after resolving a row with Taipei.
Meanwhile, former Sen. Richard Gordon slammed the Aquino administration for supposedly mishandling the case against the suspected “poachers” encountered by a combined Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries crew conducting routine patrols off Batanes province.
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