(Eagle News)– The Department of National Defense (DND) on Tuesday (September 13) said it will follow President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to cease the country’s involvement in joint patrols in West Philippine Sea.
Duterte earlier ordered that patrols are only limited to the 12-mile nautical zone of the Philippine’s territory.
“Well, susunod kami sa kautusan ng Pangulo. What he said was that in order to avoid any tensions or risk of miscalculations, our patrols will be limited to our 12 mile nautical mile zone, yung ating territorial waters,” DND Public Affairs Service Director Arsenio Andolong said.
“Well, susunod kami sa kautusan ng Pangulo. What he said was that in order to avoid any tensions or risk of miscalculations, our patrols will be limited to our 12 mile nautical mile zone, yung ating territorial waters,” he added.
However, Andolong pointed out that the non-involvement of the country in joint patrols does not mean that Philippines already snubbed the Hague ruling.
“We won the ruling sa tribunal, we are not saying that we are forgetting that, thats still part of our lives, ang sinabi lang niya ‘I want to avoid the risk of miscalculation in english,'” Andlong said.
Duterte announced during his speech at the 48th anniversary of the 250th Philippine Airlift Wing his wish to stop the country’s affairs in joint patrols, following his declaration to pursue his own independent foreign policy.
