Press Release - Chiz says security pacts with allies to serve as deterrent vs China's aggression over WPS

Senate President Francis "Chiz" G. Escudero sees the move of the Philippines to enter into security agreements with its allies as an effective deterrence to the acts of aggression of China in the West Philippine Sea.

On July 8, 2024, the Philippines signed the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) with Japan in a bid to strengthen bilateral defense cooperation between the two countries. The government is also pursuing similar agreements with its other allies including Vietnam, France and Germany.

"I believe these agreements--the RAA and similar agreements with our allies--will enable us to provide an effective deterrence while our military is not strong enough to provide that kind of deterrence," the Senate President said during a forum with the international media on Tuesday.

The RAA with Japan has yet to be transmitted to the Senate for its concurrence, but as far as Escudero is concerned, he views the RAA and other similar treaties with the allies of the Philippines as "extremely important."

For the Senate to concur with the ratification of the RAA within the year, Escudero said the Department of Foreign Affairs should already send the document because after October, the chamber will be focused on the plenary debates on the 2025 spending plan of the national government.

Escudero gave credit to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for bringing the matter of China's aggression in the West Philippine Sea to the international stage.

"The fact that there are a lot of countries speaking out against them (China) is actually serving as a deterrent, too. That is what I think the President was able to do successfully. He was able to bring world attention to this issue and to rally our allies and those similarly-minded states to support the Philippines in fighting against a bully in this particular region," Escudero said.

"And he was able to make these states and governments understand that the West Philippine Sea is not isolated. It should be their concern as well. This should be elevated as one of their top concerns as well. That it is not only a problem of the Philippines. These agreements highlight the success of the President with respect to achieving this goal," the Senate