Teodoro says Marcos rejected publicizing sked of AFP rotation and resupply sked
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. rejected the recommendation of the National Maritime Council to reveal the schedules of the rotation and resupply missions of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for its troops in Ayungin Shoal, defense chief said on Monday.
This was announced by Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. in a press conference on Monday, as he reiterated the president's stand that the Philippines "will not give up an inch, not even a millimeter of our territory to any foreign power".
"We will continue to defend our territory and exercise sovereign rights thereon as we see fit. We reiterate that we seek neither permission nor consent from anyone in performing our sworn duties in the West Philippine Sea," he said.
"The President has reiterated that we will not publish schedules of any RoRe (rotation and resupply)," Teodoro added as he made it clear that the harassment of China Coast Guard that severely injured a Filipino Navyman last week is not "a misunderstanding or an accident"
In contrast to the statement made by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin last Friday, Teodoro stressed that the government is not "downplaying" the incident.
"We see the latest incident in Ayungin not as a misunderstanding or an accident; it is a deliberate act of the Chinese officialdom to prevent us from completing our mission," he said.
"After our visit to our troops in Palawan yesterday, where the President personally talked to the troops involved in the RoRe, we have now come to the conclusion that it was not a misunderstanding or an accident. We are not downplaying the incident; it was an aggressive and illegal use of force," said Teodoro.
During last Friday's press conference, Bersamin announced the recommendation made by the National Maritime Council to the president for the government to publicize the schedules of the military RoRe mission to Ayungin Shoal.
Bersamin also mentioned that the recent harassment of China Coast Guard against the AFP troops conducting RoRe mission in Ayungin shoal was "probably a misunderstanding or an accident."
"We are not yet ready to classify this as an armed attack, I don't know if what we saw (from the video footage) were bolos, axes... nothing beyond that," he said.
Teodoro said during his visit to the Western Command in Palawan on Sunday, "the President was inspired by the bravery and commitment of our soldiers in Wescom, and they can be assured of the entire support of the Armed Forces and this administration in carrying out their duties to protect our territorial integrity, sovereignty and sovereign rights."
"We will continue our rotation and resupply missions on a regular basis. The welfare of our troops in the BRP Sierra Madre being a matter of utmost importance," he said.
However, Teodoro noted that the Philippine government will "continue to find peaceful solutions to this issue as pointed out by the president", and I quote, “We are not in the business to instigate wars. The Philippines is a responsible state, we will continue to exercise our freedoms and rights in support of our national interest in accordance with the international law.” Robina Asido/DMS
