Ff,crIerH{t

Business Inskht
WeUnesday, August 28, 2OLg

'PH not c pable

of dEfending seas
vs Chinese incursion'
BY WE]{DEII VIGIUA

DEFENSE Secretary Delfi n I-orenzana yesterday admitted the

country is practically incapable of defending_its territorial seas
againsi Chinese incursions bechuse of lack of equipment'
"Dudng
a hearing of the appropriations committee on the
propor.J budget o? the Deparunent of National Defense for
2aiO, Rep. Michael Defensor (Anakalusugan e-arry-list) asked
Lbrenzartaif the countfy is prepared to respond to incursions.
,,"Cuffently, we only have avety small capability to react to
these intrusions because out tetritorial sea is very vast and we
only have a few equipmentl'I-orenzana told Defensor.
He said the Arhed Forces has a "nery weak" capability to

See PH NOT > Page 83

modetnization Program which has

, PHNOT
navigation corridors, and requfued
all vessels to make use of the cot- a P25-billion proPosed budget for

defend the counrY's tertitorial
waters, especially since govern-
ment lackJ"coast guard assets" in
the Sibutu Passage (Sibutu Strait)
which separates Tavii-Tawi Prov-
ince from Sabah, and in Bongao.
The question was asked in the
ofrepeated uncoordinated
wake
of Chinese watshiPs in
paSsages
the Sibutu Strait and Balabac Strait
in Palawan. At least 13 Chinese
ridors to enhance the securitY of
the area which is fraught'qdth risks
of piracy, sea robbery, and terror-
ism at sea.
Lorenzana said the NavY has
standard opetating Procedures
(SOP) to follovr when dealing with
incursions, especiallY now Presi-
dent Duterte has made it clear that
foreign ships will have to inform
the Philippine government first
next yeaf.
The DND is asking fot a budget
of P189 billion for 2020, which
excludes the P69-billion budget
for pensions.
Out of .the P189 billirrn DND
budgeg the shate of the Armed
Fotces of the PhiliPPines (AFP) is '
P183.3 billion which is 1.6 p€rcent
higher ftom this year's budger T1. :
al6cation for civilian agencies totals
I

before passing through. P5.34 billion ufiich is 11.3 Percent

warships have made uncoordinated
passage through the Sibutu and
Balabac straits from FebruarY to
August 4, promPting the DePart-
-.nt of Fbreign Affairs to lodge
diplomatic Protest against China.
Siboto Straight is covered bY a
trilateral agreement among Manila,
lakarta, and Kuala LumPur, where
-they
have puil.rn place a system
'qW'e no\il/ have basis to do that lovrer than the 2019 appropriations.
and the N"ty, they now have SOPs Lorenzana said that while there
to dowhen there are unauthorized are also other foreign navies that
intrusions," he said. pass through PhiliPPine waters
Lorenzana totd Defensor that iike those of the United States,
while the country is ill-equiPPed New Zealand, Ausualia, Bdtain,
to dealwith incutsions, he remains . Japanand Russia, China's warships
optimistic that things will be bet- passed through Sibunr Straitmany
of tdr because of the ongoing AFP times.

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