AFP- Philippines 48 Fighter Jets, 6 Submarines, anti-ship cruise missile – Washington CNAS

WASHINGTON – The Philippines needs up to four squadrons (48) of upgraded Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets, more well-armed frigates and corvette-size, fast to surface combatant vessels and minesweepers and four to six mini submarines, possibly obtained from Russia, to build a credible defense force in the face of China's increasing belligerence in the South China Sea, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) said.

This level of capability would far exceed current Philippine planning and finances and it would be in Washington's interest to make it easier for Manila to acquire excess US fighters, frigates and other weapons system and encourage other countries such as Japan and South Korea to help modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), it said in an article "Defending the Philippines: Military modernization and the challenges ahead."

The CNAS article on Thursday written by Richard Fisher said the AFP's modernization program was estimated to cost about $1 billion over the course of President Aquino's six-year term – an amount that pales in comparison to China's 2012 official military budget of more than $100 billion.

A high-level Philippine delegation led by Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin was in Washington this week for discussions on each other's needs to ensure freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. 

A Hamilton-class frigate, now the flagship of the Philippine Navy, was turned over by the US last year and a second one is forthcoming. A third frigate is being sought.

The article lauded Aquino's determination to build up his country's military forces and said he has spent more than $395 million on AFP modernization since coming into office, compared with $51 million annually in the previous 15 years.

It said he is seeking to purchase a small number of F-16s supported by six to 12 Surface Attack Aircraft (SAA)/Lead-In Fighter Training (LIFT) aircraft such as the subsonic Italian Aermacchi T-346 or the supersonic Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) T/A-50, both of which could be modified to perform secondary combat missions.

A considerable investment in training, logistical support and basing will have to precede the aircrafts' service entry, estimated to be in 2016, the article said.

In 2011, the Philippine Navy (PN) restored a program to acquire two multi-role vessels in the form of 5,000-to-10,000-ton Landing Platform Deck (LPD) ships capable of supporting Marine amphibious operations supplying outposts in the Spratly Islands or conducting disaster relief operations.

The PN is also looking for a land-based anti-ship cruise missile like a version of the US Boeing AMG-84 Harpoon which has a range of 120 kms and could also be used by frigates and F-16s, said Fisher, a senior fellow with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, in his article.

"Finally, the PN would like to acquire a submarine by 2020, which would become its most ambitious and expensive program to date," the article said.

Given the economic and political stakes in ensuring that all East Asian countries maintain unimpeded access to the sea lanes near the Philippines, both those nations and the United States now share a real interest in the success of the AFP modernization.

The timing is also fortuitous, the article said, because "the United States now has a pragmatic partner in President Aquino who has proved his intention to invest in national defense and is willing to rise above nationalist resentments from the bases era."

The left wing Communist party dominant in the Philippines booted the biggest Americans Airbase in the Pacific in 1992.

USA real-time satellite surveillance assistance over maritime territory to the Philippines

The three-week standoff between the Philippines and China at Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) has led the US to agree to provide the Philippines, its old ally, with satellite surveillance assistance, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Washington announced the American assistance after a Philippine delegation conferred with him.

"In a meeting with the Philippine delegation at the Pentagon, Secretary Panetta agreed to intensify Philippine-US cooperation on real-time information-sharing to enable the Philippines to know what is happening in its maritime territory on a 24/7 basis and enforce its laws within its territory," a DFA statement said.

Panetta also gave assurance the US "will do everything possible to work with the Philippines."

The DFA also added that the US, one of the most advanced countries in intelligence gathering via surveillance satellites, will be sending PHL "real-time" information about territorial intrusions to assist the country in addressing and preventing similar incidents in the West Philippine Sea.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin had met this week with Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington.     

The US has declared that it will be aiding the Philippines once it is attacked to honor its 60-year-old defense treaty with Manila, but until then it shall not take sides.

It also pledged to increase its foreign military financing allocation for the Philippines to $30 million from just $15 million last year, said Assistant Secretary Andrew Shapiro, head of the State Department's Bureau for Political-Military Affairs.

"The State Department will explore additional creative funding streams for the Philippines," Shapiro added.

A second Hamilton-class cutter will also be transferred by the US to PHL for use in monitoring the West Philippine Sea and other maritime territories.

The standoff between the Philippines and China began on April 10 when Chinese fishermen were said to have intruded and poached at Panatag Shoal. The Philippine Navy tried to arrest them but two Chinese government ships intervened which started the standoff.

Both countries regard Panatag Shoal as their territory with the Philippines claiming it to be part of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) which is within 200 nautical miles of the nearest Philippine land mass. China said the shoal, which it refers to as Huanyang Island, has been theirs since the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century.

However, the Philippines pronounces its claim based on the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) rule, which gives it the exclusive right to explore and develop Panatag Shoal, a part of its EEZ. UNCLOS was approved by both countries.

The shoal is a coral reef surrounding a lagoon located 124 nautical miles from the Philippines' Zambales province and 472 nautical miles from China's Hainan province.

Composed of more than 200 islands, rocks, reefs and coral outcrops, West Philippine Sea has always been a place of uneasy conflict where the Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam are all claiming part of it. The sea is home to immeasurable natural resources

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USA REJECTED Philippines SOS China’s invasion inspite of Mutual Defense Treaty

The US Government affirmed that it will support for word of mouth only and not in real action, a recent turnout of the high level ministerial talks between USA and the Philippines.

For the territorial clash between the Philippines and China in the Philippine territory's Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) USA rejected the vocal ask for support of the Philippines Government.

Even though in the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) mentioned that if there is an actual invasion in the Philippine territory; USA will come to protect the Philippines but the invasion of China in the Philippines territory is disregarded by the USA government because of political ties between US-China.

Though it said to support for diplomatic solution but still vague if in the actual event if USA would be there for the Philippines after their recent decision.

This is the second time that the US government rejected the Mutual Defense Treaty showing USA could not make its word into reality, a promise of never ending promise.

The refusal of the United States to take sides in the Scarborough Shoal tiff between the Philippines and China merely confirms that the long-standing mutual defense treaty (MDT) between Manila and Washington is unreliable, Sen. Joker Arroyo said yesterday.

Arroyo, an opposition senator, also cringed at the result of the highly publicized ministerial talks between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and top diplomats and officials of the country, saying it only made the top government officials look like "beggars" in the international community after the US official said America is not inclined to take the side of the Philippines in its territorial dispute with China but will only help build and strengthen the country's maritime capabilities.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate National Defense Committee, said the US cannot afford to take sides in the territorial dispute between the Philippines and over the Scarborough Shoal as its stand is anchored on the presence of American business interests in China, which "will always play a vital role in their foreign policy decisions."

According to Manila Bulletin research, China has been a major player in the global debt market since 2011, holding at least $1.6 trillion in US treasury bonds which helps maintain the US' low interest rates and management of its enormous debt.

The US also owes at least $1.13 trillion to China, equivalent to 25 percent of the total $4.6-trillion debt given by foreign countries.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angarasaid Washington's position to settle the territorial deadlock through peaceful settlement, and multilateral and rules-based approach is given following its crucial bilateral relations with China, now considered the economic giant in Asia.

"That is to be expected because this a sensitive time in US-China relations, what with the issue of the Chinese lawyer seeking asylum in the US embassy in Beijing as well as the need for the US to win over Beijing to its side regarding North Korea and Iran," the Harvard educated-lawmaker said.

AKO Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe agreed with Angara, saying that "Big Brother will never interfere unless its interests are affected."

But while the US said it won't take sides, Clinton reaffirmed America's commitment to its MDT with the Philippines and to freedom of navigation and regional security. She also reiterated that the US will support a diplomatic resolution to any territorial disputes.

"The results of the Del Rosario-Clinton-Gazmin-Panetta ministerial meeting is a lesson for us – a small power – and that is, we should not embark on a high-profile meeting unless we are sure about a modi¬cum of success in the negotiation," Arroyo said, referring to the high-level talks attended by Foreign Af¬fairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, and US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

"That underscores the importance of back channeling, the in¬formal diplomacy, the preliminary talks before the formal meeting. For why should we go through highly publicized talks, only to look beggared by puny cessations?" Ar¬royo said,

"Whereas before, there was at least some doubt where the US stands in the crisis, now it has been clarified. Nagkabistuhan na," he stressed.

Arroyo said the Aquino govern¬ment should look up to former President Corazon C. Aquino, the President's mother, who was "a master of that kind of diplomacy."

"Informal talks were first made and the points of agreement were more or less agreed upon before the formal talks take place," Ar¬royo said.

"If there was no agreement in the preparatory talks, it was useless to proceed with the formal meeting. Ask Teddy (Teodoro) "Boy" Locsin who was 25 years younger then. He was Cory's effective diplomatic intercessor, among others," he said of Mrs. Aquino's former press sec¬retary.

Arroyo, who was Mrs. Aquino's executive secretary, said the latest development in Washington only confirms what China had thought all along, "that the 61-year Mutual Defense Treaty cannot be invoked in the Scarborough standoff."

In the joint statement, the US also affirmed it would cooperate on building the Philippines sea patrol capabilities and will transfer a second ship to the poorly equipped Philippine Navy some this year.

Both Del Rosario and Gazmin appealed also during the meeting for the US' help in building at least a "minimum credible defense" for the Philippine Armed Forces.

US Interest in the Spratlys and the Philippines

USA still having a hidden plan for the Spratlys which the Philippines must wake up that letting the US to land again in any part of the Philippine territory would put the country in danger for their hidden agenda for the resource rich spratlys.

China is  vocal in their invasion to the Philippines which the Philippines must prepare to counter china but USA also has a hidden plan to the Spratlys which the Philippines must be very careful in making its decision if allowing the US to use the Philippines for its power ambition in the pacific or not.

The USA refused to sign the UNCLOS as a proof that they are also against the United Nations Convention in Laws of Sea for some reasons such as the same intention with china to invade or control the Areas which are affected by the UNCLOS or any other hidden reasons.

Without the United State's support, The Philippines and four other states (Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Bahamas) got the approval in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) held in Jamaica last December 10, 1982. They were qualified as archipelagic States and international Laws protect them to exercise the 200 Nautical Miles Exclusive Economic Zone. 

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