By Junex Doronio
MANILA — The line of the Philippine national anthem: “Sa manlulupig, di ka pasisiil” must have driven more Filipinos to see the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr to increase military presence on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) rather than relying only on diplomacy.
This was revealed on Tuesday based on the latest survey by OCTA Research in its Fourth Quarter Tugon ng Masa Survey from December 10 to 14 last year.
It showed that 72 percent of respondents want to see the PBBM administration focusing on expanded naval patrols and troop presence in the disputed waters.
Notably, it was an increase of seven percentage points from the third quarter survey conducted in October last year.
Last January 3, the Armed Forces of the Philippines(AFP) and the United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) held their second “maritime cooperative activity” (MCA) in the WPS.
The first MCA between the Philippines and the US took place from Nov. 21 to 23 last year and involved naval vessels and aircraft from the two countries.
OCTA survey results showed that those who preferred using diplomacy and other peaceful methods ranked only second at 70 percent.
Those who said that modernization of the country’s military capability ranked third at 60 percent.
(el Amigo/MNM)
