Associated Press – The Philippine military defiantly redeployed two supply boats on Monday to provide food to Filipino marines guarding a disputed shoal in the South China Sea after the Chinese coast guard used water cannons to forcibly turn the boats away in an assault last week that drew angry condemnation and warnings from Manila.

Philippine News Agency – The Philippine Navy (PN) would rather acquire the newly-decommissioned Cyclone-class patrol vessels than obtain another Hamilton-class cutter from the United States, its chief said Monday.

USNI News – The Philippines has sent additional ships on Tuesday to its maritime territory that is subject to China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea.

USNI News – Chinese maritime militia vessels remained berthed at the Whitsun Reef, which is located within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, lending credence to what Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana described as China’s plot to permanently occupy the feature.

Global Times – The daily flybys by Philippine fighter aircraft over Chinese fishing boats taking shelter from the weather near a Chinese reef in the South China Sea are inappropriate, and might inflame tensions and risk accidents, Chinese experts said on Sunday.

Naval News – On March 2, 2021, the Philippines and India signed a government-to-government agreement on defense equipment procurement, paving the way for the sale of the Brahmos missile to the Philippines.

Naval News – The Philippine Navy welcomed the future BRP Antonio Luna (FF151), its second missile-capable frigate.

Naval News – The Philippine Navy today took delivery of a ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) from the United State at the US Embassy in Manila. According to local media the UAS consists of eight Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles.

– USNI News – The Philippine government is putting the brakes on its plan to end a critical aspect of its Mutual Defense Treaty with the U.S., but experts say it is too soon to tell whether this decision signals a warming relationship between the two allies.

– Naval News – The Philippine Navy’s first-ever guided-missile frigate, BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), set sails from the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) shipyard in South Korea today, to join her homeland for the first time.

– Naval News – The Philippines Department of Transportation signed a procurement contract with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for two 94-meter Multi-Role Response Vessels (MRRVs) for the Philippine Coast Guard.

– South China Morning Post – Beijing is stepping up its activities in the disputed South China Sea amid a swell of patriotic pride sparked by National Day celebrations, and it wants the world to see.

– USNI News – The Philippines have begun to push back against the strong and sustained presence of Beijing’s paramilitary ships in the South China Sea, calling the deployment of Chinese militia ships in huge numbers a threat.

– CIMSEC – Illicit maritime activities are at the root of Abu Sayyaf Group funding and operations, and ensuring the group’s defeat will require focused government efforts to improve maritime security in its area of operations.

– War on the Rocks – A storm is brewing in America’s oldest security alliance in the Indo-Pacific and the administration needs to act quickly to head it off.

– Nikkei Asian Review – High stakes internal battle under way over direction of Philippine foreign policy.

– CNN – Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he has ordered military personnel to occupy all Philippines-claimed islands in the disputed South China Sea.

– Reuters – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the navy to put up “structures” to assert sovereignty over a stretch of water east of the country, where Manila has reported a Chinese survey ship was casing the area last year.

– National Interest – There is a Goliath menacing the western Pacific. China’s construction of three huge artificial islands with obvious military capacity in the South China Sea has already destabilized the security equilibrium in the region. Given the rising tensions and outright challenges to the established international security order in the western Pacific, it is time for the United States to align its Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program with its Pivot to Asia initiative, in order to strengthen the region’s Davids.

– USNI News – The Philippines’ armed services modernization program took a strange and alarming turn recently as President Benigno Aquino III’s final term comes to a close.