‘Anti-sub choppers, planes for WPS’

The Philippines is beefing up its presence in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) with the military set to deploy an anti-submarine helicopter and the Philippine Coast Guard acquiring two 19-seater patrol planes.

The AgustaWestland 159 Wildcat chopper is the latest addition to the military’s capabilities in maritime patrol and security, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said.

It can detect and strike any submarine illegally entering Philippine waters, he said.

“It has a torpedo that can hit any submarine that is illegally inside our territorial waters. Or [if] the need arises, it can hit another seacraft with its rockets,” Brawner said.

The AFP is also set to deploy two anti-submarine helicopters from the United Kingdom this year.

“These assets are very important in our inventory because when we say maritime patrol and maritime security, we want to ensure that we monitor all the illegal entries into our territorial waters and even in our exclusive economic zone,” Brawner said.

“Our eyes in the sky have limitations, our drones and even the visuals of our ships. We also need to know if there are submarines plying the route within our territorial waters or within the exclusive zone,” he added.

The Coast Guard patrol planes, on the other hand, will be in addition to the 40 patrol vessels (15-meter fast boats) that President Marcos guaranteed during the 122nd anniversary of the PCG.

“The President has also given us the go signal to start the bidding process of two units of 19-seater airplanes that would be used to intensify our maritime domain awareness (MDA) over the WPS,” PCG spokesperson Rear Admiral Armand Balilo said.

“This will complement the vessels deployed in the West Philippine Sea and other areas of concern while on patrol operations,” he added.

For his part, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said operations in the West Philippine Sea will continue despite Chinese harassment on Filipino ships.

“The President’s instruction is very clear: whatever happens, operations in the WPS will continue,” Teodoro said.

He also dismissed China’s claim that the Philippines is illegally occupying Pag-asa Island.

“I don’t want to laugh as