SENATORS slammed the latest act of aggression by Chinese state forces against Philippine Coast Guard boats on a resupply mission in the Ayungin Shoal.
This, as the mayor and vice mayor of the Kalayaan municipality which covers the Kalayaan Island Group denounced the harassment by the Chinese Coast Guard, which water-cannoned the two ships, forcing them to abort the mission.
“Ang naganap na pagtataboy ng mga barkong Tsino ay katampalasan sa ating sobrenya, sa ating karagatan. Ang pangyayaring ito ay hindi dapat palampasin! [The reported move by the Chinese boats is a gross infringement of our sovereignty, a grave intrusion of our waters. We must not let this pass]!” Vice Mayor Hermoso Ornopia said in a statement posted in Sulong Kalayaan 2022 Facebook Page.
Mayor Roberto del Mundo worries that ordinary Filipino fishermen going to the area would also experience the same degree, if not worse, of harassment.
“Kung nagagawa ng mga Tsino ang ganitong mga bagay sa mga militar, mas lalong maaari rin nilang gawin ang pambu-bully sa mga sibilyang mangingisda [If the Chinese can do this against military units, then they can very well do the same bullying against civilian fishermen],” Del Mundo said.
Ornopia said he will ask the Sangguniang Bayan ng Kalayaan Palawan to adopt a resolution to protest in the strongest terms the latest incident in Ayungin Shoal.
Kalayaan municipality has a population of 193 people. Its local government exercises jurisdiction over 11 islands and other rock formations including Ayungin Shoal.
Hours after the Department of Foreign Affairs reported the latest incident, Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senator Panfilo Lacson slammed China’s action in a joint statement Thursday. The two senators stressed the foreign intrusions in Philippine territory should be “stopped immediately.”
“The continued interference of the Chinese Coast Guard in Philippine waters is an ominous sign (“masamang pangitain”) that should be stopped immediately,” said Partido Reporma chairman and standard-bearer Lacson and his running mate, Sotto.
A separate statement was issued by Sen. Risa Hontiveros.
In their regular weekly “Meet the Press” Zoom conference with reporters, Lacson and Sotto reacted to the report by the DFA, which protested the actions of Chinese Coast Guard vessels using water cannons to drive away PCG ships resupplying the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea last Tuesday. Philippine Navy men have manned the old hospital ship, which Manila uses as sentinel for safeguarding its marine territory.
“We are not satisfied with just filing diplomatic protests [against China]. We should have an alliance with big, militarily strong countries, through our existing bilateral agreements,” said Lacson, who chairs the Senate defense committee.
Lacson added, partly in Filipino: “We can’t handle China alone, considering its military capability, so SP [Senate President Sotto] and I discussed this and we agreed that we should rely on the balance of power [among nations]. We cannot always remain pushovers.”
Sotto reminded concerned authorities that “When our people are being driven away, this is an ominous development, whether there are casualties or not.”
Even as Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., for the first time, alluded to the Mutual Defense Treaty after a bullying incident by China, Sotto said, “it is high time” to revisit the country’s Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States and other foreign powers to deter China’s actions in the WPS, which the communist country claims as part of its vast nine-dash line area in the South China Sea.
DFA’s Locsin said he talked to Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing to protest the incident, reminding them that a public vessel is covered by the Philippines-US Mutual Defense Treaty.
He said the acts of the Chinese Coast Guard are “illegal” as China has no law enforcement rights in and around the Ayungin Shoal, and that its Coast Guard “must take heed and back off.”
Senator Hontiveros said of the incident: “this is an outright and unacceptable violation of our sovereign rights and jurisdiction.”
She urged Malacañang to “strongly condemn” China’s bullying tactics.
“Let us show our military personnel, the very same people who risk their lives for our country, that we will always defend them,” the senator said, adding “they are ready to defend our right, let us show them we will never abandon them.”