It is highly unlikely that the Philippines will allow the US military to use it as a springboard for freedom of navigation patrols in the disputed South China Sea to avoid antagonizing China, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said. Lorenzana said on Thursday that US ships and aircraft could use bases in Guam, Okinawa or fly from aircraft carriers to patrol the disputed waters. Under Mr. Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, some US aircraft and ships stopped in the Philippines on the way to patrolling the disputed waters to challenge China’s territorial claims.

PH won't help US patrol disputed sea. (2016, December 10). Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A6.