Security News

Aquino Vows to Modernize the Military

This is an article repost.

MANILA—Philippine President Benigno Aquino warned he was taking steps to defend his country’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, including upgrading his country’s military capabilities, in a major policy address after the end of his first year in power.

Mr. Aquino also vowed to follow through with earlier promises to crack down on corruption in his annual State of the Nation speech, naming a chief graft buster and pledging to finally prosecute officials from his predecessor’s administration that his government says are guilty of crimes.

View Full Image

European Pressphoto Agency
Benigno Aquino III greets members of Congress after delivering his State of the Nation Address on Monday

Mr. Aquino’s latest comments on the South China Sea threatened to add fuel to the fire just days after leaders at a regional security summit in Indonesia promised to work together with China to resolve disputes in the resource-rich sea, where China, Vietnam, the Philippines and several other Asian countries have overlapping claims.

“We do not wish to increase tensions with anyone, but we must let the world know that we are ready to protect what is ours,” Mr. Aquino said in the nationally televised address. Although Mr. Aquino didn’t mention China by name, he referred to a part of the sea where the Philippines has clashed with China in the past, known internationally as the Reed Bank but also called “Recto Bank” by some Filipinos after a busy Manila street.

“Our message to the world is clear: What is ours is ours; setting foot on Recto Bank is no different from setting foot on Recto Avenue,” he said. He added that the Philippines is taking steps to modernize its armed forces, including buying more weapons and possibly acquiring more naval vessels, and is still studying the possibility of elevating the dispute to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

There was no immediate response from China, but it has previously said it wants peace in the region while also insisting on its sovereignty over disputed areas. It has also said it prefers to negotiate disputes on a bilateral basis without involving international authorities.

Mr. Aquino appears to be trying to tap into nationalist sentiment in the Philippines at a time when his approval rating, while still high, has slipped somewhat from peaks after he was elected on a platform of cleaning up corruption and modernizing the country’s economy—two tasks that have seen modest but limited progress, analysts say.

In the early days of his administration, Mr. Aquino took pains to curry favor with China, including deciding not to send a representative to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in December in Norway honoring a jailed Chinese dissident. But relations have soured somewhat since then after a series of disagreements on issues including the execution of three Filipinos in China in March who were convicted of drug smuggling. More recently, Philippine officials have stepped up their complaints about Chinese intervention near the Reed Bank, including an incident in March when Chinese patrol boats reportedly threatened a Filipino oil exploration ship in the area.

Meanwhile, Mr. Aquino is starting to face more criticism at home. For the most part, his first year was viewed as a success, with credit upgrades by major ratings agencies and gross domestic growth last year of 7.6%.

But some residents have called for faster action on fighting corruption and improving the country’s deteriorating infrastructure, both of which are widely blamed for holding back the country’s economic potential. A recent survey by Social Weather Stations, a research group, found 64% were satisfied with Mr. Aquino’s performance, down from 74% in November last year.

Although Mr. Aquino remains popular compared to some predecessors, “the honeymoon is basically over—people are starting to question some of the policies,” said Ramon Casiple, director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform and a local political analyst. Monday’s address coincided with protests involving more than 6,500 people in Manila demanding higher wages and economic reforms, though such demonstrations aren’t unusual in the Philippines.

To pick up the pace on fighting graft, Mr. Aquino announced the appointment of former Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales as the government’s chief graft buster to push his anticorruption effort, which he pledged will finally result in the prosecution of corrupt officials during the time of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Ms. Arrroyo has denied any wrongdoing.

“Some of my critics say that I take this campaign against corruption personally,” Mr. Aquino said. “It’s true: doing what’s right is personal. Making people accountable—whoever they may be—is personal,” he said. “We are not leaving anything to chance; good governance yields positive results.”

Mr. Aquino also urged lawmakers to immediately pass his 1.816 trillion Philippine peso ($42.6 billion) budget proposal for 2012 so that the government can more quickly implement infrastructure projects needed by the economy. He said the budget bill will be submitted to Congress on Tuesday.

Next year’s budget envisions a 286 billion peso budget deficit, or 2.6% of projected gross domestic product. Part of the 2012 budget will go to modernizing the country’s naval assets to protect the country’s territory, including in the disputed Spratly group of islands in the South China Sea, Mr. Aquino said.

—Josephine Cuneta contributed to this article.
Write to Patrick Barta at [email protected] and Cris Larano at [email protected]
==============================================================================
By: Patrick Barta and Cris Larano
Source: The Wall Street Journal, July 26, 2011
To view the original article, click here.

Comment here