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Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. agreed '' in principle'' with the recent statement of US Navy 7th Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Karl Thomas that "aggressive behavior" must be challenged and checked.

"He's correct, correct, we agree," Brawner said on Monday.

"The question is how are we going to do that? But we agree in principle but how to do it. That is why we are leveraging our alliances and our partnerships with like-minded countries, alone facing a giant like David and Goliath," he added.

Brawner said the AFP has increased its patrol and presence in the West Philippine Sea following the incident during the resupply mission in Ayungin Shoal last August 5.

"We have increased the frequency of maritime patrols and the number of platforms doing these," he said.

The AFP chief of staff also noted that the Philippines will continue to follow "the rules-based international order...international laws" and it will not go to war" but instead "practice maximum tolerance."

"We will still practice maximum tolerance. We will try to avoid it but we will go on with our mission. For example during resupply mission, we will still continue but we will avoid them," he said.

"We will not respond with water cannoning... we also have water cannons in our ships but we will not do that. We will not also do the same coercive and dangerous tactics as that of China," he added.

In a radio interview on Sunday, Brawner mentioned that the joint military activities proposed by China with AFP may not push through because of their recent harassment against Philippine vessels in the West Philippines Sea.

"Well, with what they are doing, it (joint military activities) may not happen anymore. Although we have, since 2004 a memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation that is why we are sending students to China to study because of this defense cooperation agreement," he said. Robina Asido/DMS