Senate Minority Leader Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III on Monday said we should never allow the deployment of missile systems of foreign military forces here in the Philippines.
The opposition senator was sought for his comment on the statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin that the US government had deployed its Army’s Mid-range Capability missiles system last April 11. Putin cited this development in a television interview last Friday.
Pimentel noted that the launch buttons for these foreign-owned and -controlled missile systems are not within our control.
Due to this, these foreigners are the ones who will decide when they want to turn the Philippines into a battlefield.
He warned that it the Philippines which will be the battleground not their own country/countries.
“The fate of the entire Filipino Nation (and by using the word Nation I refer to the Filipino People) should not be left to the hands of foreigners who may even be pursuing a capitalist-business money-making agenda at the expense of the Filipino Nation,” emphasizes the opposition senator.
But Senate President Francis Escudero said the missiles could be part of our Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) or our military exercises with the US.
He said the US government will remove or get them when the time comes.
However, he clarified that Russia has no right to interfere if we
have our own military capability including missiles system.
The Senate chief also noted it’s a different matter of another country will deploy in the Philippines their own war weapons.
Still, he asserted that boosting the capacity of the Armed Forces of the Philippines is the biggest deterrent compared to any military exercises
or EDCA with other countries.
