Philippine Navy short of ships to protect waters vs. intruders —chief

Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad has admitted that the country still lacks assets and ships that could help in safeguarding territorial waters from poachers and intruders.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday night, Empedrad shared an instance in which the Navy noticed a number of poachers in waters west of Luzon.

“I went to Northern Luzon a month ago tapos tiningnan namin ‘yung na-monitor nating poachers sa west of Luzon, ang daming poachers... poachers are coming from Vietnam and other countries in the Southeast Asia,” Empedrad said.

“Ang problema natin we don’t have as much as ship as yet to send them out kaya instead na ang Pilipino natin are the ones fishing, eh ang nagfi-fish ‘yung kapit-bahay natin. We lost billions of peso sa fishing pa lang. Kung may barko tayo, we will be able to save a lot of ano,” he added.

Empedrad also admitted the Navy's difficulty in monitoring all forms of intrusion in the West Philippine Sea because the resource-rich region is vast.

Earlier reports indicated alleged intrusions of foreign vessels in the Philippine waters. There were also reports about supposed harassment of Filipino fishermen by Chinese men.

Empedrad said the Navy already has rules-of-engagement in case of foreign vessel intrusion in Philippine waters.

“When we see ships intruding ... susubaybayan ng barko natin and if hindi siya continuous ‘yung passage niya then we can even ask, send our aircraft to send them away... I already approved that rules of engagement,” he said.

The Navy chief, who is set to retire on February 3, said he is glad that acquiring more ships was part of the military’s modernization project, noting that it is of big help in securing our territory.

“Pag makuha natin ‘yung mga barko na pino-project natin sa modernization, I think it will take time, di mo naman kaagad makuha ‘yung barko,” he said.

“I think what I can say is we were able to get the approval of our senior leaders and even the President na acquiring more ships for the Navy so that we can protect our maritime waters,” Empedrad said. —LBG, GMA News