The country should look at forming more alliances outside of Southeast Asia to focus on its interest of protecting the West Philippine Sea, a former official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said.

At the Stratbase forum, retired Rear Admiral Rommel Jude Ong said: “Honestly, the Philippines is an outlier within ASEAN. We are a discordant voice among all our member states. And if this is the case, then, instead of harping on ASEAN centrality, we need to look at the centrality of Philippine interests over other interests.”

“We need to look at a Northeast Asia unilateral arrangement as a counterforce to ASEAN,” he added.

Ong proposed having an expanded and sustained maritime cooperative activity to include navies from other states to conduct joint sails in the East and South China.

“It cannot be ceremonial patrols every three months. That doesn’t work. If you want substantive affect in the exclusive economic zone, the patrol needs to be 24/7, 365 days,” he said.

He also suggested the establishment of a Northeast Asia Coast Guard Forum and a combined naval maintenance facility to be set up at Subic, Zambales to support other navies and coast guards deployed in the South China Sea.

Ong proposed an integrated air defense and sea denial system involving the Bhramos missile system of the Philippine Marine Corps and Spyder Ground-based Air Defense systems, among others. Jaspearl Tan/DMS