By Priam Nepomuceno
MANILA – Chinese sanctions meted out against Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and his immediate family are only meant to scare the former who is proving to be a very effective defense chief as confirmed by a series of successful security partnerships inked with like-minded states.
This was stressed by Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea (WPS), retired Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, during an interview with DZBB late Sunday.
“Ito ay maliwanag na pananakot, kita naman natin ang napaka-effective na SND (Secretary of National Defense). Siya ang nanguna sa ating defense diplomacy, ang dami nang nalagdaan na enhanced (our) defense relations sa iba’t ibang bansa. (these sanctions are just merely to intimidate him, it is known to us that he is very effective SND, he is leading our defense diplomacy and under his term, we have signed a lot of agreements which further enhanced (our) defense relations with other countries),” he added.
China has prohibited the DND chief and his families from entering its territories and its nationals from doing business with them.
Trinidad was referring to the series of Status of Visiting Forces Agreements the Philippines has signed with Canada, France and Japan to name a few nations with Teodoro manning the DND helm.
The DND chief has also proven to be a very vocal critic of China’s illegal and aggressive actions in the WPS, Trinidad added.
“It only (shows) that tama ang ginagawa niya (what he is doing is right) eh, tayo naman sa hanay ng AFP, total support tayo sa ating SND (and we, in the AFP ranks, we express our total support to our SND),” Trinidad said.
In imposing this sanction against Teodoro and his immediate family members, China’s Foreign Ministry accused the defense chief of having “repeatedly made irresponsible remarks on China” which undetermined Chinese interest and sabotaged China-Philippine relationships. (PNA)
