US envoy Harry Thomas, mum on Panatag row, tears up speech

He made a show of tearing up his prepared speech, but US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. remained guarded in his extemporaneous remarks at the closing of the Philippines-US “Balikatan” (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises on Friday.

Thomas hardly mentioned the standoff in the Panatag Shoal between China and the Philippines, which had set the stage for the two-week military exercises in various parts of the country, including areas near the disputed waters of the West Philippine Sea.

“Now I’ve made my staff very nervous because now they go, ‘what he is going to say?’” the ambassador said as he ripped up his notes, a gesture he said he imitated from former President Fidel V. Ramos.

But for a passing reference to an “assurance of the Mutual Defense Treaty” between the Philippines and the United States, Thomas did not make any controversial statements, quickly slipping out of the hall after the ceremony and avoiding reporters waiting at the door.

“I learned from my two years in the Philippines that we must conduct all of our activities with respect, with (an) alignment of our priorities, with assurance of our Mutual Defense Treaty and knowing that we work with, and under the wishes of, President Aquino and Secretary of Defense (Voltaire) Gazmin,” he said.

“So thank you for letting us conduct this wonderful 28th Balikatan exercise. We appreciate being here in your country,” Thomas added.

The two-week Balikatan exercises commenced on April 16 and involved some 4,500 American troops and 2,300 Filipino soldiers spread out in several towns.  The annual joint exercises included war games in Puerto Princesa City on a bay facing sensitive pockets of the West Philippine Sea where China and the Philippines have a continuing diplomatic spat over certain disputed territories, among them Panatag Shoal, known internationally as Scarborough Shoal.

The standoff followed a series of other confrontations in the contested waters, with both sides trading accusations of intrusions on each other’s territories, particularly the resource-rich Spratlys, which is also being claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.