DEFENSE Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Friday, April 13, that they have yet to receive a report regarding the alleged presence of jamming equipment at China’s military bases on the Spartly Islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) as reported by the United States (US) Department of Defense.
“None has been confirmed by us. We will confirm using our resources if there really are jammers and if so what kind: to disrupt communications or disrupt weapons systems,” he said.
“All reports have been coming from the US and we have not received any formal communications to that effect,” he added.
Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US Department of Defense monitored a suspected communications and radar jamming equipment installed on Fiery Cross and Mischief Reefs.
Lorenzana said they still have to verify the report.
“Ang suspetsa ko nasagap ng mga US Navy ships ‘yung jamming signals. Ano ang purpose ng jammers ng China? Kasi alam nilang armado mga US Navy ships,” he said.
(I suspect that US Navy ships picked up the jamming signals. What is the purpose of these jammers from China? Because they know that the US Navy ships are armed.)
“Yung jammers kasi ay madaling ikabit yan. Merong maliit na para sa sasakyan pang jam ng communications. ‘Yung mga mas sophisticated like for weapons systems mas malaki nasa mga building at barko. Pwedeng buksan o patayin depende sa mission. Kahit may sensor ka di mo malalaman kung hindi naka on,” he added.
(Jammers are easy to install. Those used to jam communications are small while the more sophisticated equipment used for weapons systems are big and are installed in buildings and ships. These could be switched on or off. Even if you have a sensor, you would not pick this up if it is not switched on.)
If there are indeed jammers in the area, Lorenzana said they cannot stop the Chinese government from deploying such equipment just like how they were not able to hinder China from building their artificial bases on what they claim to be their territory. (SunStar Philippines)