蜜桃工作室

MANILA, Philippines鈥擲py planes are OK, but then what?

Senator Gregorio Honasan called, on Tuesday, for an actual military presence by the United States in the Scarborough Shoal and other disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea to help protect Philippine interests there.

Honasan, a former Army colonel, welcomed President Benigno Aquino鈥檚 move to tap US spy planes to monitor activities in the area and relay information to the Philippine government.

鈥淏ut the question really is: What do we do with that information?鈥� he told the Inquirer in a phone interview. 鈥淚f they just feed us information that there鈥檚 an intrusion but the Americans would do nothing, useless.鈥�

Honasan said the US could send a 鈥渃arrier task group鈥� composed of an aircraft carrier and destroyers to police the area where the Philippines has accused China of harassing its vessels.

The senator said the US could also redeploy to Scarborough some of its troops currently in Mindanao as part of the Visiting Forces Agreement. He said the US military presence would help 鈥渓evel鈥� the field between the Philippines and China, which boasted of a much stronger military.

鈥淚n a bilateral situation, there should be a parity of forces, of leverage. But in our case with China, there鈥檚 none. That鈥檚 why I need to underscore the need for a third party, an observer,鈥� he said.

Honasan added: 鈥淭hey鈥檒l be the 鈥榖arangay tanod.鈥� They鈥檒l be the police. They will monitor everything. Any movement of naval and air assets in the area will be monitored by the US.鈥�

In case a Philippine vessel is blocked by China, for instance, he said the US could serve as a third party to ensure that any agreement between the two claimant countries would be observed.

鈥淚f there鈥檚 a violation of the initial agreement, of ground rules, there would be a disinterested party that would call the attention (of both countries), and I think the US fits that role,鈥� he said.

But before getting the US on board, the Philippine government should clarify where the US stood when it came to the dispute with China, said Honasan.

鈥淲e have to ask the US: Do they believe that the Scarborough Shoal belongs to us? I think we should get a categorical answer from them,鈥� he said.

鈥淚f they say it belongs to China, it鈥檚 over. Let鈥檚 go home,鈥� he added. 鈥淣ow if they believe that it belongs to the Philippines, help us put up structures there and deploy your troops there. Establish a naval component there as a monitoring device for your deployed air and naval asset.鈥�

Honasan said the Scarborough dispute would allow the Aquino administration to 鈥渢est鈥� whether the US put more value on its historical ties with the Philippines than its relationship with China.

鈥淣ow is the time to test it,鈥� he said.

While trying to get the US more involved, the Philippines should also conduct backdoor negotiations with China over the possibility of a joint exploration of the disputed territory, the senator said.

鈥淭here should be backdoor diplomacy. This is not a simple issue,鈥� he said.