AFP developing strategic bases covering Philippines’ EEZ — Brawner

The Armed of the Philippines (AFP) said it is establishing strategic bases to cover the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

In an interview with reporters, AFP chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. said this move is part of the country’s Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept (CADC).

“We’re projecting our defenses up to our EEZ. And then aside from that, we are also now looking into our strategic basing,” Brawner told reporters.

“So pati dito na rin dito sa eastern seaboard natin ay gumagawa na rin tayo ng mga hakbang para gumawa ng mga strategic bases on the eastern seaboard so hindi lang west, hindi lang north, pati east na rin,” he added.

(So even here in our eastern seaboard, we are also taking steps to create strategic bases on the eastern seaboard, so not just west, not just north, but also east.)

According to Brawner, the requirements for the strategic bases are already included in the 2025 budget.

In March, the Philippines said it is developing its capability in protecting and securing the country’s territory and EEZ.

This came after China’s President Xi Jinping called on its armed forces to coordinate preparations for military conflicts at sea, protect its maritime rights and interests and the development of the maritime economy.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said his department and the AFP have already launched the CADC.

“In plain language, we are developing our capability to protect and secure our entire territory and EEZ in order to ensure that our people and all the generations of Filipinos to come shall freely reap and enjoy the bounties of the natural resources that are rightfully ours within our domain,” Teodoro said.

Tensions between China and the Philippines have heightened in recent months as both sides trade accusations over a series of incidents in the WPS.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce. Its territorial claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

Parts of the waters within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone have been renamed as West Philippine Sea.

In 2016, an international arbitration tribunal in the Hague said China’s claims had no legal basis, a decision Beijing has rejected. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News