Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the military had surpassed maritime challenges besetting the country’s territorial disputes.
These have all been marred by intrusion in the West Philippine Sea even as the government steps up the completion of a beaching ramp to hasten security in Pagasa Island, the largest island inside the Kalayaan Group of Islands.
At the sidelines of the 79th anniversary of the Department of National Defense in Camp Aguinaldo Lorenzana revealed the military increased air and maritime patrols, especially in hotly-contested areas in WPS which amounted to 46, 694 cases of intrusion, wherein 40,135 were challenged at sea.
“The AFP intercepted intrusions to (sic) Philippine claimed features. Littoral monitoring detachments and littoral observatory stations provided common air and maritime operating picture in West Philippine Sea, Philippine Rise and other parts of Philippine territory,” he said.
“For the period in review, AFP detected 46, 694 incidents and challenged 40, 35 vessels passing through the Philippine territory,” he added.
Lorenzana said most of the intrusions were by way of poaching into the country’s maritime waters and were perpetrated by Vietnamese fishing boats.
Lorenzana, however, failed to include China’s intrusion activities in maritime waters, particularly in Scarborough Shoal and other areas within the 200 Exclusive Economic Zone that triggered diplomatic row with Beijing.
He said the military was actively beefing-up the country’s territorial waters with the Navy initiating at least 3, 8366 surface mission, covering 143, 445 nautical miles of maritime waters.
The Philippine Air Force, on the other hand, also conducted air patrol along the country’s frontier covering 12, 157.5 nautical miles.
These operations, he said, “greatly enhanced the defense efforts of the government by showing out presence in the areas within the EEZ.”
To establish strategically maritime presence and maintain effective occupation in Philippine-held islands and features, Lorenzana said the military deployed 28 personnel in said areas.
He noted that the construction of a beaching ramp in Pagasa Island was already 40 percent completed, the first project of the government in the biggest Philippine-held Island in the Kalayaan municipality.