Senator Imee R. Marcos. - Photo: Senate PRIB
MANILA: Senator Imee Marcos warned that 25 areas in the country could be targets of a possible Chinese hypersonic missile attack due to the increase in Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) sites and the brewing tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
Marcos said that among the 25 areas are the Ilocos region, a frequent site of war games between Manila and Washington, as well as Batanes and Subic in Zambales, where she said the country’s new missiles had been installed.
INQUIRER.net on Wednesday (July 3) contacted Marcos to seek more details, but the senator has yet to respond as of this posting.
"I’m really scared because while tensions are brewing in the West Philippine Sea, I saw [reports] about China’s plans to use hypersonic missiles," Marcos said in a video posted on her official Facebook page on Monday.
"The 25 targets are already set... Based on what we’ve read, there are BrahMos missiles in Batanes and Subic, so those two will be prioritized along with Ilocos because of the live fire exercises during Balikatan. It’s really scary, 25. That’s no joke," she said.
Marcos is referring to the state-of-the-art supersonic cruise missiles acquired by the Philippines from the Indo-Russian defense contractor BrahMos aerospace.
The missiles, which could be launched from submarines, ships, planes, or land platforms, already arrived in the country in April.
With a range of 290km to 400km, BrahMos are medium-range supersonic missiles that travel at Mach 2.8, or about three times faster than the speed of sound.
In addition to this, the senator also noted that the Philippines has no “iron dome” that could thwart such strikes.
"The US said they could not thwart hypersonic missiles.
"I became more nervous because I thought that when it comes to missiles, other countries have this thing called the iron dome, which prevents missiles from entering.
"But when it comes to hypersonic missiles, it could enter easily. Everything will be crushed," the senator further said.
Marcos said that aside from the West Philippine Sea tensions, China’s possible move is also due to Manila’s allowing more Edca sites in the country.
"Let’s admit that the problem is that China thinks we have already sided with their enemy. We gave 17 Edca sites, which China thinks are military bases. So they were incensed," Marcos further said.
Contrary to this claim, there are only nine identified Edca sites in the country to date.
In April 2023, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos allowed the United States access to four more Philippine military bases under Edca, which permitted Washington to store equipment and station troops there.
Two of the newly approved Edca sites are located in Cagayan, which is relatively near Taiwan, a self-ruled island regarded by China as a renegade province subject to reunification.
These new Edca sites irked Beijing, which stressed that the agreement was made so that Washington could “encircle and contain China.” This claim, which China said would drag the Philippines into “the Taiwan question,” was rejected by Manila.
Meanwhile, the tensions in the West Philippine Sea are continuous and even escalating.
The resupply activity for the grounded naval outpost BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal and the Philippine Coast Guard’s activities in Scarborough Shoal have become flash points of tension between Manila and Beijing.
The June 17 confrontation between the CCG and the Philippine Navy led to what the latter deemed “looting” and caused a serious injury to one of its personnel.
Beijing asserts sovereignty in almost the entire South China Sea, including most of the West Philippine Sea, even if such a claim has been effectively invalidated by the arbitral award issued in July 2016.
The landmark ruling stemmed from a case filed by Manila in 2013, a year after its tense standoff with Beijing over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, whose lagoon the latter now effectively controls.
Asked to comment on Marcos’ claims, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said the military “takes such concerns seriously.”
“We are ready to coordinate with Senator Marcos to obtain details and take appropriate actions to ensure our nation’s security,” Padilla told INQUIRER.net on Tuesday. - The Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
