AFP eyes multilateral joint patrols in West Philippine Sea

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said Sunday it is looking forward to more joint patrols in the West Philippine Sea next year, possibly with other more countries seeking peace and stability in the region.

AFP spokesperson Colonel Medel Aguilar said this after the Philippines conducted air and maritime patrols with the United States and Australia, hoping there will be others too with Japan and other countries that signified intention to protect the WPS.

“We can expect more patrols in the coming year. Ang sabi naman ng ating Pangulo, it's just the start at marami pang kasunod. So expect na hindi lang ito magiging bilateral. Baka later on maging multilateral ito, meaning, it will involve several countries,” he said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview.

(The President said that we’re just starting and there will be more to come. So expect that it won't just be bilateral patrols. Later on, it may become multilateral patrols. Meaning, it will involve several countries.)

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. earlier said the Philippines needs to change its strategy in countering Chinese aggression in the WPS because diplomatic efforts are making "very little progress."

Marcos also said that the current diplomatic efforts with China are heading “in a poor direction.”

For the AFP’s part, Aguilar said they want to strengthen alliances with other countries to make the Philippines’ stance in the WPS stronger.

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“It is about establishing, strengthening our alliances with foreign countries so that our voice will be stronger and that we are able to strengthen also legal procedures that will advance our interest and at the same time, regional peace and stability,” he said.

“Nananatili pa rin tayo actually sa diplomatic track, but it will be an invigorated one. Talagang tinitignan natin na magkaroon po talaga ng malakas na alyansa and I think we are already gaining ground on this matter,” he added.

(We are still staying on the diplomatic track, but it will be an invigorated one. We are looking forward to have a really strong alliance with other countries and I think we are already gaining ground on this matter.)

Marcos had said “it's time that the countries that feel that they have an involvement in this situation, we have to come up with a paradigm shift.”

He also said there were a lot of ideas regarding the paradigm shift, but noted that current efforts would include talking to the country's partners to come up with a joint position.

"We have to bring all of those ideas together and to change the direction that these incidents have taken us. We have to stop going that way. We've gone down the wrong road. We have to disengage and find ourselves a more peaceful road to go down," Marcos said. —KG, GMA Integrated News