By Darryl John Esguerra | Philippine News Agency
The Philippines will not send a Navy warship to the West Philippine Sea (WPS), President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said Tuesday, noting that the country is not at war and does not escalate tensions in the hotly contested waters.
Marcos said the government would continue protecting fishermen and its territorial rights over the WPS despite the continuing Chinese aggression in the region.
“We are not at war. We don’t need Navy warships. All we are doing is resupplying our fishermen, protecting our territorial rights,” he told reporters in an interview in Pampanga.
“Again, it will be provocative and will be seen as an escalation—we don’t do that. The Philippines does not escalate tensions. Quite the opposite, the Philippines always tried to bring down the level of tension.”
Last week, a Chinese vessel reportedly struck BRP Datu Tamblot, a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessel with a “high-intensity laser” in the WPS.
In a separate incident also last week, a Chinese Coast Guard vessel fired a water cannon at BRP Datu Pagbuaya, aiming directly at the vessel’s navigational antennas about 16 nautical miles south of Bajo de Masinloc.
It also “intentionally sideswiped” the same ship and launched its second water cannon attack.
Philippine Coast Guard vessels, including the BRP Teresa Magbanua, also faced blocking, shadowing, and dangerous maneuvers from a People’s Liberation Army Navy vessel.
Despite these incidents, the President said the country would continue to perform its mission and “will never be part of an escalation in the situation in WPS.”
“If we look at the evolution of the situation in the WPS, the Philippines has never been an agent of escalation of tensions,” he said.