’75 percent of Pinoys want US-Philippines military partnership in West Philippine Sea’ Cecille Suerte Felipe - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri has revealed that a rider question in the most recent Pulse Asia survey shows that Filipinos are overwhelmingly in support of partnering with the US in order to confront territorial disputes with China over the West Philippine Sea. Respondents came out 75 percent in favor and 14 percent not in favor, to the question: “Are you in favor or not in favor of strengthening the military ties between the United States and the Philippines amid security tensions in the West Philippine Sea?” The rest of the respondents marked themselves as not having enough knowledge to form an opinion (two percent) or “can’t say” (eight percent). Amid criticisms regarding the participation of the US military in the West Philippine Sea, which has translated to training and regular flights within Philippine territory, this proves that a majority of Filipinos are in fact welcome to receiving support from the US military. “There’s a huge disparity,” said Zubiri of the data, during an interview with dzBB on Sunday. “This means our countrymen are getting angry, they are tired of China’s incursions here, especially in Reed Bank which is very near El Nido, Coron.” This survey came out just as the Philippines celebrates the seventh year of the landmark 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which invalidated China’s claims to historic rights within the “nine-dash line” and effectively recognized the rights of the Philippines to the West Philippine Sea as falling within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Despite this ruling, China has continued to forcefully enter the Philippines’ EEZ. The Senate is expected to soon approve a resolution urging the administration to bring the issue of the West Philippine Sea back to the United Nations General Assembly, amid continued aggression from China.