Philippines now wants to scrap joint sea patrol role

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines

Days after stating that his administration would adopt an autonomous foreign policy, the president has declared he no longer wants the Philippines to participate in joint sea patrols with other countries -- seemingly again turning his nose up at the United States.

Earlier this year, the U.S. announced that it had reached an agreement with Rodrigo Duterte's predecessor to start joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea amid a dispute with China.

Duterte has since lashed out at U.S. criticism of his administration's war on drugs, cursed Barack Obama and American colonization and illustrated a speech at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting with images of Muslim Filipinos killed during the American occupation.

In a speech delivered at an air force base in Manila on Tuesday, Duterte underlined that he would no longer allow joint sea patrols as he didn't want the Philippines to be involved in any hostile acts in "someone else’s territory".

"Whether it is really owned by us, which the judgment says we are entitled to... That's besides my point," he said, referring to a Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling that said that Beijing's claim to areas of the South China Sea had no basis.

"The point is I don’t want to ride gung-ho style there with China or with America... I just want to patrol our territorial waters... We do not go into patrol or join any army because I do not want trouble," he added, according to GMA news.

Beijing claims sovereignty over around 90 percent of the sea, an area marked by a so-called “nine-dash line” on Chinese official maps, while the Philippines and other Asian nations have their own claims.

On Tuesday, Duterte also said that Russia and China had agreed to provide weaponry and armaments for his military to use in its counter-insurgency campaign in its southern region of Mindanao.

The U.S. -- the Philippines’ long-time ally and former colonizer -- has long deployed special forces soldiers to train and advise local units fighting the Abu Sayyaf in the south, but the program -- which once involved 1,200 Americans -- was discontinued in 2015, although a small presence has remained.

On Monday, Duterte called for the U.S. Special Forces to withdraw from the troubled southern island, warning that their presence would worsen conditions in the conflict-ridden area.

According to the state-run Philippine News Agency, Duterte said that Russia and China had agreed to provide the military equipment through soft loans, but it would not include high-end fighter jets as the Philippines did not intend to fight any countries.