Creation of Spratlys task force pushed

MANILA, Philippines — To strengthen the country’s claim on the Spratly Islands, Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez is proposing the creation of a task force that will be “exclusively dedicated” to this claim.

In House Bill (HB) 7858, Rodriguez underscored the need for the Philippines to beef up its claim on the highly contested island group as other countries in the region are doing.

“In order to protect our sovereignty and strengthen our claim over the islands, we should intensify our military presence in the area and provide our military with the equipment necessary to defend our territory when the need arises,” HB 7858’s explanatory note reads.

The measure seeks to create a task force that shall be “exclusively dedicated to ensuring that our claim over the Spratly Islands is protected.”

The Spratly Islands are a group of more than 750 reefs, islets, atolls, cays and islands in the South China Sea, according to Rodriguez.

The island group lies off the coasts of the Philippines and Malaysia (Sabah), about one third of the way from there to southern Vietnam.

The Spratlys comprise less than four square kilometers of land area spread over more than 425,000 square kilometers of sea.

The bill stated that it is one of the three archipelagos of the South China Sea that comprise more than 30,000 islands and reefs, and that complicate governance and economics in that region of Southeast Asia.

“Such small and remote islands have little economic value in themselves, but are important in establishing international boundaries,” Rodriguez said.

He added that while there are “no native islanders, there are rich fishing grounds and initial surveys show that the islands may contain significant reserves of oil and natural gas.”

The lawmaker noted that about 45 islands are occupied by relatively small numbers of military forces from Vietnam, the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Brunei has also claimed an exclusive economic zone in the southeastern part of the Spratlys, just one area of small islands above mean high water.

Except for Taiwan and Brunei, “claimant-countries have strengthened fortifications in the islets and shoals in the Spratlys,” citing the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), according to Rodriguez.

“From one islet it began occupying in 1984, Malaysia now has troops on five islets, with one having a 1,200-meter runway, which can reportedly accommodate heavy civilian and military transport planes, as well as a naval station in an island known as Layang-Layang, which had been a dive resort for tourists,” he said.

He added that China also had a “steady military build-up in the area despite its being a signatory to the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.”

There are also surveillance photographs showing “different machine gun emplacement, as well as additional communications antennae.”

Aside from these, naval vessels have also been anchored in Chigua Reef.

HB 7858 stated that Vietnam has also made “impressive improvements in their occupied islands, with new communication equipment installed in Sin Cow (Rurok Island).”

There are also single-storey buildings in Allison Reef and in other sites such as Barque Canada Reef, Discovery Great Reef, Petley Reef, Pigeon Reef and East Reef.

The AFP has also monitored “new intrusions by China at a Philippine-claimed island, where the Chinese put up buoys and posts that were subsequently dismantled by Filipino fishermen.”

Chinese vessels have been reportedly harassing an oil exploration ship of the Department of Energy in Recto Bank.

“The Philippine military also reported sighting two foreign jets flying over the area, which were reportedly Chinese,” the bill stated.

The measure underscored that these incidents are proof that there is a need for the Philippines to have “a group exclusively dedicated to ensuring our claim over the Spratly Islands.”

Under the proposal, the task force shall be under the AFP and will have an initial funding of P1 billion.