The Philippine Navy (PN) on Wednesday expressed openness to proposals suggesting the creation of a “navigational arrangement” with China amid the increased presence of their vessels in the Philippine waters.
Philippine Navy (MANILA BULLETIN)
Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad, Flag-Officer-in Command of the PH Navy, said this will help the Philippines establish rules when Chinese vessels enter the country’s territory.
“Kung mayroon tayong (If we have a) system that will improve our relations with China in matters of intrusions, especially in the West Philippine Sea, bakit naman hindi (why not?),” Empedrad told defense reporters at the PH Navy headquarters in Manila.
Earlier, maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal suggested that the Philippines and China should establish a navigational arrangement, just like what the government has with the United States.
Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines (UP) Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, said US and the Philippines have reached an agreement that American vessels must send prior notification to the Philippine military before they can enter our territorial waters.
He said there were mechanisms that enabled such arrangement because of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the two countries.
China has its own policy requiring foreign vessels to seek clearance from its Navy before one can enter their territorial waters, Batongbacal said.
Meanwhile, President Duterte earlier issued a directive similar to China’s policy.
According to Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo, the foreign vessels need to comply in a friendly way or the Philippine government will have to enforce it in an “unfriendly manner.”
But Empedrad believes that a navigational arrangement between the Philippines and China will further help improve the ties between the two countries.
“Maa-avoid ang mga alitan (Conflicts will be avoided) and the passage will be friendly. We will even help to draft policies,” he said.
‘Unfriendly’ manner
The PH Navy Chief also clarified their “rules of engagement” in dealing with ship intrusions in an attempt to come up with an explanation on what the President could possibly mean when he said the government will enforce his order in an “unfriendly manner.
Empedrad said that if a ship intrusion happens, the Navy’s littoral monitoring stations (LMS) will immediately alert them so that a military ship will be deployed to either “shadow” the foreign vessel or to shoot “across its bow.”
“Once the LMS monitors a ship entering our territorial waters, we deploy our own ship if there’s available one. We direct it to shadow or accompany the ship assuming na hindi sila nagpaalam (they did not coordinate with us),” he explained.
“Kapag hindi siya sumagot or nagpatay siya ng (If it didn’t respond or turned off its) AIS [automatic information system], probably we can send an aircraft to shadow it. We take pictures of the ship, determine its location in our territory,” he continued.
If the ship still fails to identify itself, that’s the time that the military will shoot “across its bow,” which means it will cut in front of the vessel’s path or blow a horn to announce the PH military’s presence.
“Not necessarily provocative kasi ang provocative it means your ship is ready for war. We will not be doing that. We just maneuver to tell them that they are passing through our territorial waters,” Empedrad noted.
“Kung mayroon tayong (If we have a) system that will improve our relations with China in matters of intrusions, especially in the West Philippine Sea, bakit naman hindi (why not?),” Empedrad told defense reporters at the PH Navy headquarters in Manila.
Earlier, maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal suggested that the Philippines and China should establish a navigational arrangement, just like what the government has with the United States.
Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines (UP) Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, said US and the Philippines have reached an agreement that American vessels must send prior notification to the Philippine military before they can enter our territorial waters.
He said there were mechanisms that enabled such arrangement because of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the two countries.
China has its own policy requiring foreign vessels to seek clearance from its Navy before one can enter their territorial waters, Batongbacal said.
Meanwhile, President Duterte earlier issued a directive similar to China’s policy.
According to Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo, the foreign vessels need to comply in a friendly way or the Philippine government will have to enforce it in an “unfriendly manner.”
But Empedrad believes that a navigational arrangement between the Philippines and China will further help improve the ties between the two countries.
“Maa-avoid ang mga alitan (Conflicts will be avoided) and the passage will be friendly. We will even help to draft policies,” he said.
‘Unfriendly’ manner
The PH Navy Chief also clarified their “rules of engagement” in dealing with ship intrusions in an attempt to come up with an explanation on what the President could possibly mean when he said the government will enforce his order in an “unfriendly manner.
Empedrad said that if a ship intrusion happens, the Navy’s littoral monitoring stations (LMS) will immediately alert them so that a military ship will be deployed to either “shadow” the foreign vessel or to shoot “across its bow.”
“Once the LMS monitors a ship entering our territorial waters, we deploy our own ship if there’s available one. We direct it to shadow or accompany the ship assuming na hindi sila nagpaalam (they did not coordinate with us),” he explained.
“Kapag hindi siya sumagot or nagpatay siya ng (If it didn’t respond or turned off its) AIS [automatic information system], probably we can send an aircraft to shadow it. We take pictures of the ship, determine its location in our territory,” he continued.
If the ship still fails to identify itself, that’s the time that the military will shoot “across its bow,” which means it will cut in front of the vessel’s path or blow a horn to announce the PH military’s presence.
“Not necessarily provocative kasi ang provocative it means your ship is ready for war. We will not be doing that. We just maneuver to tell them that they are passing through our territorial waters,” Empedrad noted.
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