Ex-DND Secy urges PH to form contingency plan vs China

FILE: The report also cited that Gonzales is suspecting that China may be forced to use their “military option” since the presidential term of Rodrigo Roa Duterte could not be extended anymore. (ACE MORANDANTE/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

Former Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Norberto Gonzales said that the Philippine government should start forming a “contingency plan” in case of a China invasion.

“A Chinese invasion is not unthinkable,” Norberto Gonzales said in a statement sent to Rappler on June 9, Saturday.

He advised the administration to recruit physically-abled Filipinos to begin the training immediately.

“The armed forces should begin the rapid modernization and expansion of the national reserve to include the entire citizenry,” Gonzales said.

“Within hours, the Chinese can destroy most of the country’s defense facilities and probably some of our cities,” he added.

The former defense secretary said in the same item that “China does not have a history of invading other countries, but it is not averse to using military might to settle territorial conflicts.”

According to Gonzales, some signs that indicate China’s possible “invasion” are the building of “defense bases” within the Philippine territories. These moves are apparently some form of “internal propaganda” that makes the Philippines “its number one threat and enemy.”

Furthermore, he also said that as soon as “the world formally intervenes, China then may agree even to a total withdrawal of occupying troops, but in exchange, the Philippines will be asked to yield jurisdiction over territories China chooses to keep.”

Rappler’s report also cited that Gonzales is suspecting that China may be forced to use their “military option” since the presidential term of Rodrigo Roa Duterte could not be extended anymore.

He further said that the only way to extend Duterte’s term is through a revolutionary government. Rappler also reported that “the only organization apparently qualified to earn China’s nod is the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).”

Gonzales served as the defense secretary two times during the administration of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA).