The United States has offered to escort Manila's resupply missions to outposts in the disputed South China Sea, the Philippine military chief says, following Beijing's intensifying efforts to block them.  General Romeo Brawner said during a press conference with the chief of US Indo-Pacific Command that the Philippines would not take up the offer until it reached a point when they could not deliver life-saving provisions and troops were "on the verge of dying." IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES