Non-participation in South China Sea drills doesn’t mean backing down on claim —AFP chief

The barring of the military from joining other countries in conducting naval exercises in the South China Sea does not imply that Philippines is no longer asserting its territorial claims in the disputed waters, the new chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines said.

In an interview with CNN Philippines late Friday, AFP chief Lieutenant General Gilbert Gapay said President Rodrigo Duterte’s order prohibiting Philippine forces to join naval drills in the SCS is a “political decision.”

“It doesn't mean we're backing down in our claim and in protecting our sovereignty in the area,” Gapay said.

“On the contrary, we didn't receive any orders to stop patrolling the area both naval and air patrols tuloy tuloy ‘yan,” he said.

On Monday, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenza said Duterte’s directive aims to prevent the escalation of tension in the region. 

Lorenzana also said Duterte is not being a defeatist but just being "pragmatic and realistic" when it comes to how he deals with the territorial issues in the South China Sea. 

Gapay, meanwhile, said the military is monitoring what is happening in the West Philippine Sea every day.

“We maintain military presence in the area particularly in our territorial waters,” he said.

“‘Yung temporary suspension of drills, our participation, should not be viewed as backing out from our claims or job of really asserting our sovereignty,” he added.

The AFP chief said that drills within the national territory are still being conducted.

“We have unilateral local drills which we conduct in our territory, meaning within our 12-mile territorial waters, puwede ‘yon,” Gapay said.

“What the President is saying on the temporary suspension are those drills with other countries outside our territorial waters,” he said.

In his fifth State of the Nation Address, Duterte — long criticized for his administration's rather soft stand on the territorial dispute — said the Philippines could not afford to wage war against China over the West Philippine Sea. —KG, GMA News