Drilon says PH can’t go on arms race with China

Ger real.

Sen. Franklin Drilon on Sunday gave the Aquino administration a bit of a reality check on a reported plan to beef up the country’s military capability in response to growing tension with China over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

“We cannot go on an arms race with China. You don’t have to be an expert in foreign relations to conclude that we cannot fight in that department,” Drilon told dzBB radio in Filipino. “That we purchase arms to be ready, that’s not being realistic.”

President Aquino’s deputy spokesperson, Abigail Valte, said the government remained committed to “resolving conflicts peacefully.”

Valte declined to comment on an Inquirer report quoting Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose L. Cuisia Jr. that the Philippines was shopping for new military hardware under the US foreign military sales program.

Drilon said any purchase could be done as part of the modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. He said the government could also tap into unprogrammed funds in the national budget.

Still, he said the country should not use the military buildup as a strategy against China in the dispute over Spratlys.

“We can’t handle China,” he said. “The Spratlys issue should be discussed through multilateral venues, meaning all countries that have a claim there should talk and use diplomacy.”

Pamalakaya

The leftist fisherfolk group Pamalakaya on Sunday assailed Washington for allegedly exploiting the current tension over the Spratlys by compelling the Philippines to shop for excess US military equipment.

Reacting to the reported Cuisia statement, Pamalakaya vice chair Salvador France said President Aquino was “playing the role of mascot under the US game plan.”

Renato Reyes Jr., secretary general of the leftist Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, said procurement of US military hardware had always been tied up with other considerations, such as the Visiting Forces Agreement.

“This is a classic example of our mendicant foreign policy,” Reyes said.

Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino urged Malacañang to “first conduct an audit of past US military aid to Manila before it starts shopping for junk American weapons.” With a report from Jerry Esplanada