“The Philippines is a peaceful nation. The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, ” he said.
Cayetano said China has assured that the deployment of missiles in three reefs claimed by the Philippines as well as the testing and landing of Chinese bombers in Woody Island in the Paracels is “purely for defensive purpose and not directed against the Philippines.”
He even noted that the government is not sitting on the China’s supposed aggressive actions in the disputed West Philippine Sea and has filed
“several dozens of diplomatic protests. ”
“We are not asking you to trust us blindly.
We have been filing diplomatic protests but our critics want us to shout loudly,” Cayetano said.
“Yes, we have differences with them (China), but we have made gains
We are not willing to do the Aquino approach,” he said.
For his part, National Security Adviser and Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said they are continuously monitoring the actions of the various claimants in the disputed South China Sea/West Philippine Sea.
He agreed with Cayetano that government has not been remiss in undertaking diplomatic actions against any nation.
On China’s militarization, Esperon, chairman of the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said,