New law might expose country to security risks: expert
By Robina Asido
The Philippine Maritime Zones Act, expected to be signed into law Friday, might expose the country to additional security risks as it could be exploited by states that "has a record of not acting in accordance with law."
In a phone interview with the Daily Manila Shimbun, Maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal explained that "the Maritime Zones Act, as well as the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act, which goes with it, recognizes the right of archipelagic sea lane passage".
"Those are also available to aircraft in the designated sea lanes so of course even though it is a lawful undertaking, a lawful obligation, that presumes that the foreign state using it or exercising that right is also a well-behaved state, someone you can trust to behave properly and act in accordance with law," he said.
"Of course, if the state has a record of not acting in accordance with law, you can legitimately see it as a security risk anywhere it is," he added.
In a conference in Makati on Wednesday, Philippine Air Force Brig. Gen. Leo Fontanilla, 5th Fighter Wing commander, welcomed the signing of the Maritime Zones Act but he noted that it could make the security of the country more vulnerable as "this might be exploited in many ways".
"Welcome development, But again, this might be exploited, because this will be serving also passage links for them, and to become harder for us to, you know, to deter and possibly control. Of course, if they go near to us, that's the problem," he said.
"I'm not privy to the new maritime zone, but this might be exploited in many ways, because, not only in the surface because they can project the power outward meaning to the airspace above it," he added.
Fontanilla stressed the increasing trend of aerial intrusion monitored within the Philippine air space which is the same with other neighboring countries, including Japan.
"This is very concerning for us... we have around this year, to this month, around close to 800 intrusions... So this is very concerning for us. First of all, it's very large, areas (are) very large, and of course, we have limited resources. That's the real challenge," he said.
"We need to foresee. We need to check. We need to monitor as fast as possible before they will go near to us. So it's really intimidating if they are within 24 nautical miles," he added.
As part of its effort to address these challenges, Fontanilla pointed out the importance of the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) noting the PAF's plan to acquire 12 more FA-50 fighter jets and the acquisition of multi-role fighter aircraft.
"Number one, we need to modernize our armed forces, especially the Air Force and the Navy because we complement the efforts of the Navy in securing our maritime and air domain. And with these new capabilities, you can have better deterrence, to deter their gray zone tactics," he said.
"The real reason that we need to have multilateral fighters (is) to have better equipment, with better avionics, better munitions, power and payload, to include the munitions. We can be having a good deterrence vis-a-vis the or 4.5 and above generation fighter of the our well perceived adversaries," he added. DMS
