Balbac: The military chief of the Philippines reminded a small group of navy officers on a remote island in the province of Palawan near the contentious Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea that their duty was to "ensure there is peace."

He also assured them of more resources and troops as the Philippines shifts its emphasis from internal security to territorial defence and told them they have a "very important" role to play in protecting Philippine waters against invaders.

"We take care to deploy where we are required. We must be ready because this is a strategic location in Palawan, so we are needed here," Centino said after enjoying a meal with the troops at a table covered in banana leaves and laden with crabs, chicken, rice, fruits, and slices of roasted pig.

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Centino's second stop in the Balabac group of islands saw him inspect a 300-hectare Philippine air base in addition to the naval station at Narciso del Rosario, which has a new beaching ramp and staging area.

The United States was granted access to four new sites in February as part of a 2014 defence agreement, which came at a time of concern over China's behaviour in the South China Sea and tension over self-ruled Taiwan. One of those sites was the Balabac air base, which Centino described as having a "very strategic" location.

The 2014 Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) permits joint training, equipment prepositioning, and the construction of infrastructure like runways, fuel storage, and military housing, but not a permanent presence.

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Billy Adriano, a resident of Balabac, said he welcomed the expanded EDCA because "that will help in the security of the country." However, some local government officials have expressed concerns about it.

At the air base, which will also house facilities for disaster relief and humanitarian assistance as well as barracks that Americans may use under the EDCA, Manila has begun construction on a three-kilometer runway.

Centino described the location of the air base as "surrounded by islands, and this is where foreign vessels from international waters will enter and pass through our SLOCs (sea lines of communications)".

We must be able to recognise intrusions if we are to be able to defend (our territory), Centino said, mentioning an incident in which a foreign vessel snuck into the Sulu Sea near Palawan.

He did not specify which vessel, but the Philippines reported in March 2022 that it had spotted a Chinese navy reconnaissance ship off the Cuyo Group of Islands in the Sulu Sea. The ship had entered the area without authorization and was refusing to leave despite repeated requests.

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With a "nine-dash line" on maps that extends more than 1,500 km off its mainland and enters the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia, China asserts sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea. In 2016, an international arbitral decision disregarded that sentence as  having no legal basis.

Centino said, "It is crucial that we be able to monitor to identify who is coming in and going out, whether hostile or friendly forces.