MANILA, Philippines- Naniniwala si Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Jose Ezpeleta na makatutulong ang mas maraming asset sa West Philippine Sea upang palakasin ang mga aksyon ng Pilipinas sa pinag-aagawang waterway.
Tinanong ni Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros ang Navy chief sa kanyang confirmation hearing sa Commission on Appointments nitong Miyerkules.
“Now, in conflicts that fall below the threshold of armed aggression – such as our current situation in the WPS – paano po tayo mag-e-establish ng sapat na leverage na siguruhin para meron tayong sapat na room para mag-maneuver diplomatically? Ano po kaya ang version nating mga Pilipino ng ‘gray zone tactics’ ng Chinese government?” ani Hontiveros.
Sinabi ni Ezpeleta na kailangang magdagdag ng assets ng bansa sa lugar “in order for us to leverage our actions in the West Philippine Sea.”
“We should continue to put more assets there. We have to support the actions of our white ships, kumbaga, our coast guard. Another is we have to enhance our maritime domain awareness. I would also like to say that building friends with our allied countries or our like-minded Navies is one way also of leveraging. We have a lot of efforts especially in our modernization let’s say for deterence purposes,” tugon ni Ezpeleta.
Nais malaman ni Hontiveros ang taktikang ito subalit pinili ng Navy chief na talakayin ito sa isang closed door session.
“Maraming salamat para doon. And yung gray zone tactics po na hinaharap natin sa Chinese government meron ba tayong Filipino version na pwedeng i-design? Or is that also for an executive session?” tanong ni Hontiveros.
“Yes, we have efforts to at least address this issue but I would rather say it in an executive session,” sagot naman ni Ezpeleta.
Gayundin, inilatag ni Ezpeleta ang kanyang mga prayoridad bilang pinuno ng Philippine Navy.
“Una po tuloy-tuloy po nating tutukan yung modernization ng Philippine Navy. Pangalawa po again ang ating maritime domain awareness and marami na pong parating na mga modern assets so we would like also to emphasize our basing strategy to support these new assets, as well as the continuous training of our personnel, lastly po we need to increase our multilateral cooperation activities with our allied Navies,” pahayag ni Ezpeleta. RNT/SA
