Marcos: Threat has grown, PH must do more to defend territory

The threat in the South China Sea has grown and the Philippines must do more to defend its territory, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has said.

Still, Marcos said invoking the Mutual Defense Treaty with the US would not serve any purpose unless the threat against the Philippines has become "existential."

"The threat has grown. And since the threat has grown, we must do more to defend our territory," Marcos said in an interview with Bloomberg in Malacañang.

Signed by Manila and Washington in 1951, the MDT is a defense pact that unites the two allies to help defend each other from aggression.

Under Article IV of the treaty, it is stated that the Philippines and the US recognize that an armed attack in the Pacific area on either of them would be dangerous to their respective peace and safety.

The two countries also declared that they would act to meet the common dangers in accordance with their constitutional processes.

"An incursion for example to occupy, which has happened but we still try to keep it peaceful," Marcos said.

"It does not serve any purpose to heighten tensions, to say I am invoking now the Mutual Defense Treaty. I don't think anyone wants that unless... the effects are such that it will become an existential threat to the country," he added.

"I think it will be very easy to say that that will trigger the Mutual Defense Treaty," Marcos said.

Marcos said that the US has been very supportive and has shown that it was taking the agreements with the Philippines seriously.

"But it is dangerous for one to think in terms of when something goes wrong, we'll run to Big Brother. That's not the way we treat it at all," Marcos said.

"We do this for ourselves. we do this because we feel that we have to do it and it's not at the behest of the United States.

Asked how confident he is that the US will go to war with China over a reef in the South China Sea, Marcos said, "To take a step back from that question, that is precisely what we want to avoid."

"We want to do everything we possibly can together with our partners and allies to avoid that situation... This is not poking the bear as it were," Marcos said.

"We are trying to do quite the opposite. we are trying to keep things at a manageable level to continue the dialogues wherever they are at any level," he added. —NB, GMA Integrated News