Joint maritime patrols by the Philippines and the US in the South China Sea will greatly help in reducing encroachments by Chinese vessels as well as incidents of harassment against Filipino fishermen and other local vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), senators said yesterday. Senators Francis Escudero and Sherwin Gatchalian, in separate interviews with radio dwIZ, welcomed the announcement from Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez and his US counterpart Lloyd Austin III on the “restart” of joint patrols in response to growing regional security challenges. Escudero said the planned joint patrols as well as the move to allow US access to more military bases in the Philippines under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) should not be cause for worry that they might trigger hostile reaction from Beijing.

Romero, P., Punongbayan, M., & Mateo, J. (2023, February 5). Joint patrols to benefit fishermen- senators. The Philippine Star, pp. 1, 4.