By John Victor D. Ordoñez, Reporter

A PHILIPPINES-US tag team against China would worsen tensions in the South China Sea, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, after Washington committed to give Manila $500 million (P29.3 billion) in military aid.

“The Philippines needs to see that ganging up with countries outside the region to engage in confrontation in the South China Sea will only destabilize the region ad create more tensions,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news briefing in Beijing on Wednesday evening.

He said Manila should focus on engaging in dialogue and consultation instead of allowing the United States to “interfere in the maritime issue.”

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs did not immediately reply to a WhatsApp message seeking comment.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III announced the new military funding on Tuesday in Manila after their 2 + 2 ministerial dialogue with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo and Defense Secretary Gilberto Eduardo C. Teodoro, Jr.

“To seek security assurance from external forces will only lead to greater insecurity and turn oneself into someone else’s chess piece,” the Chinese spokesman said.

He added that allowing the deployment of US missiles in the Philippines would fuel tensions and incite a regional arms race.

The US brought a mid-range missile system for the annual Balikatan or shoulder-to-shoulder military exercises with the Philippines earlier this year.

Philippine Senate President Francis G. Escudero on Wednesday said Washington’s military funding won’t provoke or agitate China, saying it is every country’s right to strengthen its military to keep the peace.

US President Joseph R. Biden, who signed the National Security Supplemental bill into law in April, had said it would help American allies “defend themselves against threats to their sovereignty and to the lives and freedom of their citizens.”

In April, Republican Senator Bill Hagerty and Democrat Senator Tim Kaine pushed a bill that increased US military aid for the Philippines to $500 million from $40 million over five fiscal years through 2029.

The Philippines, one of the weakest in the world in terms of military capability, is important to Washington’s efforts to push back against China, which claims the South China Sea almost in its entirety.

Manila and Beijing on July 2 reached a “provisional arrangement” for Philippine resupply missions to Second Thomas Shoal, which the Philippines calls Ayungin.

They resumed talks to ease tensions in the waterway after accusing each other of raising tensions in disputed shoals and reefs in the South China Sea.

Beijing has urged its neighbor not to “backpedal” or do anything that would complicate the situation in the waterway.

Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said in his third address before Congress that his government would continue to find ways to de-escalate tensions in contested areas in the waterway “without compromising our position and our principles.”

China claims more than 80% of the South China Sea, overlapping with the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines.

A United Nations-backed tribunal in 2016 voided China’s claim over the waterway for being illegal. Beijing has ignored the ruling.

About $3 trillion worth of trade passes through the South China Sea annually, and it is believed to be rich in oil and natural gas deposits, apart from fish stocks.

THE DEPARTMENT of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Thursday said it seeks to wrap up its study on the environmental impacts of reclamation projects at the Manila Bay by September, after senators blamed these for heavy flooding.

“We believe by September we will be able to complete even the three-dimensional visualization of these impacts of reclamation,” Environment Secretary Maria Antonina Yulo-Loyzaga told a Senate public works committee hearing.

In August last year, Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. suspended all reclamation projects at the bay, except for one, ordering the DENR to review their environmental effects.

Senators Juan Miguel F. Zubiri and Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva earlier blamed the reclamation at Manila Bay for heavy flooding, especially in Manila, Pasay City and Bulacan province.

“In general, reclamation projects will slow down the flow of water and will change the circulation and retention of pollutants and organic materials that are already in the bay,” Ms. Yulo-Loyzaga said.

Public Works Secretary Manuel M. Bonoan on Tuesday told a news briefing that more than 5,000 flood control projects would be implemented across the country this year, after dozens died in floods caused by Super Typhoon Carina and the southwest monsoon rains last month.

At the hearing, the Public Works chief said flood control projects in Bulacan and Pampanga that were supposed to be ready this year were still in preparatory stages.

“The process of doing the detail and design for this type of mega-project takes time because we have to go on the ground,” he said.

Senator Ramon B. Revilla, Jr., the committee chairman, told the hearing that the government has spent about P1 trillion on flood control projects in the past decade.

Senator Maria Lourdes Nancy S. Binay told the committee that flood control projects over the years had “failed to produce the necessary improvements to safeguard communities.”

“It is deeply concerning that despite the significant funds allocated to the DPWH and the Metro Manila Development Authority, our flood management systems remain inadequate,” she said.

The Marikina River reached as high as 20 meters. Its water level rose to 21.5 meters during the 2009 devastation of Typhoon Ondoy, which killed more than 700 people, and to 22 meters during 2020’s Typhoon Ulysses, which killed about 100 people.

Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez has said the House of Representatives would look into the government’s flood management budget to determine if it had been spent wisely.

The Philippines’ disaster agency on Tuesday said the death toll from the combined effects of Super Typhoon Carina (Gaemi) and the southwest monsoon had hit 39 and that the number of affected people had risen to 4.8 million. — John Victor D. Ordoñez