(UPDATE) THE US will “surely invoke” its Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the Philippines if an armed attack against the country’s “assets, including those of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), is committed in the South China Sea,” a US official told a congressional hearing in Washington early Friday.
Lindsey Ford, deputy assistant secretary of the US Defense Department, gave this assurance before the US House of Representatives, which tackled China’s continued aggression in the waters, including laser pointing and water cannon attacks against Philippine personnel.
“The [Defense] department has been incredibly clear when it comes to our treaty commitments to the Philippines,” Ford told Rep. Young Kim of California, who also heads the subcommittee on Indo-Pacific of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
“We have said repeatedly and will continue to say that we stand by those commitments,” Ford said as Kim raised criticisms of the US’s commitment to the Philippines.
“Is the US prepared to back up its Mutual Defense Treaty with military force? And what message would it send to other countries in the region if the US doesn’t respond forcefully enough to an event that triggers that treaty?” the US lawmaker asked.
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In response, Ford noted the “credibility” of Washington’s military partnership with Manila, which she described as “a bedrock part” of the US’ security in the Indo-Pacific and globally.
Aside from securing the US military foothold in the Philippines through the nine Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites across the country, Ford said Washington is also helping an American company operating in Subic in operating a shipyard it sees as a “critical strategic infrastructure.”
“The fact that US companies are cooperating and helping to build jobs and make sure that that strategic area stays in friendly hands, I think, is incredibly important,” Ford added.
In the same congressional hearing, Vice Admiral Andrew Tiongson, US Coast Guard Pacific Area commander, said that the PCG has “our largest security sector assistance program with them.”
Tiongson responded to a comment by Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr about the lack of available assets by the PCG to defend itself.
“In fact, when you talk about assets, we, through the interagency partnerships, built an entire training center to help them with operations, as well as maintenance of the vessels that they do have,” Tiongson shared.
He said under the US program, the PCG hopes to grow its personnel from “5,000 to their goal of about 35,000.”
He said the PCG was “still working on that, but they’re well into that right now. And we have assigned a maritime adviser to them to help along that growth projection.”
State Department’s Assistant Secretary for Multilateral Affairs Jung Pak also said “part of the State Department’s goals is to make sure that we’re consulting frequently and in-depth to talk about exactly what the Philippines needs.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko, and Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo held a trilateral meeting in New York on September 22, when the three agreed to continue to call out behavior that is with international law, including China’s recent actions near Second Thomas Shoal that interfered with the Philippines’ lawful exercise of high seas freedom of navigation.
On September 6, US Vice President Kamala Harris, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Prime Minister Kishida Fumio met in Jakarta, Indonesia, where they discussed the maritime security environment in the South China Sea and East China Sea and reviewed ways in which their three countries could enhance trilateral maritime cooperation, including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts.
‘Moro-moro’
But while the US has been supportive of the PCG and its activities in the South China Sea, the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute (ACPSSI), a Manila-based think tank, has called for an investigation into the “moro-moro” instigated by the PCG when it claimed that it “successfully removed” the floating barrier installed by its Chinese counterparts at the entrance of Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal).
In a media briefing on Saturday in Quezon City, ACPSSI President Herman Tiu Laurel echoed the declaration by the China Coast Guard (CCG) that the claim by Commo. Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesman on the West Philippine Sea (WPS), was “fictitious” and “fabricated.”
A CCG spokesman said in a statement this week that the nets were deployed temporarily simply to prevent a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel from “illegally” entering the Huangyan Island, China’s name for Bajo de Masinloc, without authorization from the Chinese government and supposedly “stirred up trouble in a provocative manner.”
The spokesman said the CCG “took necessary measures in accordance with the law to effectively restrict the Philippine vessel, including calling and warning, route restrictions and temporarily setting blocking nets on the lagoon.”
The CCG presented images showing the BFAR ship being blocked by its vessels, the blocking nets it set and its recovery of the nets after.
Laurel said that, on the other hand, Commodore Tarriela announced to the public on September 25 through a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the PCG has executed a special operation to remove the floating barrier that obstructed the Southeast entrance of Bajo De Masinloc in compliance with the instruction of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. upon the recommendation of the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS).
He said the announcement was accompanied by videos and several photos of the operation.
The problem with Tarriela’s videos and photos was that they failed to show the entire length of the floating barrier and that the “so-called evidence was a 6-meter rope with a few floaters attached,” the ACPSSI president said.
“It should also be pointed out that the rusted anchor with a few meters of rope, which the PCG retrieved, could not be part of a floating barrier system that’s meant to be temporary,” he added.
Laurel also noted that based on the accounts of the CCG spokesman, the 300-meter floating barrier “was voluntarily removed” by the CCG on September 23 after they successfully prevented the BFAR vessel from entering the lagoon, and “normal control was restored” in the area.
The CCG photos showed the “long and bulky” floating barrier on the deck of one of its ships.
“Tarriela did not even attempt to present evidence of the 300-meter barrier the PCG says it had removed,” said Laurel.
Furthermore, he said the PCG official gave the date for the operation to remove the floating barrier as September 25.
“This could probably be the reason why Tarriela’s divers were unable to present any photos of the actual floating barrier that they supposedly removed since it was already taken away by the CCG two days before,” Laurel said.
“The moro-moro and subsequent loquacious bragging of Tarriela revealed certain truths: That the Philippine government, the [Department of Foreign Affairs] and the PCG have been lying about what is actually transpiring in the South China Sea for the past decade,” he added.
Laurel said this also confirms what he has been frequently pointing out in the past: that there is no harassment of Filipino fishermen by the CCG in the South China Sea.
“Fish sanctuaries, such as Bajo de Masinloc, are off limits to all fishermen, and because of the CCG, these sanctuaries in the South China Sea are guarded from illegal activities,” he said.
Laurel said the PCG does not have the capacity to enforce the protection of fish sanctuaries and yet “ignorantly demands fishermen should be allowed to pursue their activities in these portions of the sea to the possible detriment of the protected marine areas.”
‘Evidence’
The Manila-based think tank’s tirades come as the PCG admitted on Saturday that it could not remove the entire floating barrier installed by the CCG and that it was only its anchor that they could cut and retrieve.
Tarriela said the PCG will use the retrieved anchor as evidence should the Philippine government file charges against China for its activities in the West Philippine Sea.
The PCG and BFAR also encouraged Filipino fisherfolk to sail and catch fish at the Bajo de Masinloc after the “illegal and hazardous” floating barrier was removed.
The area remains free from floating barriers as of Saturday, according to a maritime domain flight conducted by the PCG, although Chinese vessels were still spotted in the shoal.
Fishermen are not WPS intelligence agents
Ang Probinsyano party-List Rep. Alfred de los Santos, deputy majority leader of the House of Representatives, on Saturday, opposed plans by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to use Filipino fishermen to gather intelligence and evidence in the disputed coastal waters in the WPS and the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
De los Santos issued the statement after fishery group Bigkis ng Mangingisda Federation said that fishermen around Scarborough Shoal are offering to monitor the situation in the WPS as they are “the best source of information on what is happening there.”
AFP Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner had said that the military plans to train fisherfolk in the disputed area as reserve forces to “defend the country” against intrusions by China.
But de los Santos said that putting fishermen as “intelligence agents” may endanger their lives and urged soldiers, professionals and trained reservists to do their job.
He added that it was the main reason the House has decided to move the confidential and intelligence funds from civilian agencies to the PCG and other agencies tasked to monitor the situation in the WPS.
“The Philippine Coast Guard has the mandate on maritime and marine environment law enforcement extending out to the EEZ. The Bantay Dagat sea wardens are for coastal fisheries law enforcement,” de los Santos added.
He said it would be better to mobilize the Coast Guard auxiliaries and military reservists if the Coast Guard and the AFP need more people to gather evidence and intelligence.
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