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Friday, March 29, 2024

PH readies protest vs China

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THE Philippines is preparing another protest against China over the latter’s plan to install a radar station in the Panatag or Scarborough Shoal, a Cabinet official said Tuesday.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the administration was heeding the proposal of Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio to file a protest before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague against China’s building activity in the shoal.

“I think so, there will be [a protest to be filed]. A stronger one will be filed,” Aguirre said.

Senator JV Ejercito called on the Department of Foreign Affairs to file a strong diplomatic protest against China’s incursions and building activities in Philippine territory.

“The Scarborough Shoal and Benham Rise are part of Philippine territory. It is our sworn duty to protect our territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Ejercito said.

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Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto supported Carpio’s recommendation to rethink our relations with China.

“I agree with him. Totally. Maybe not to use the word ‘rethink’ but ‘review’. The connotation is different,” he said.

Aguirre said President Rodrigo Duterte will not surrender the nation’s sovereignty despite his reported pronouncement that the government would be helpless if China built structure in the shoal.

“Definitely, he will not let go of [Panatag Shoal],” Aguirre said.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II

“As a matter of fact, we are strengthening our relationship with the US” in response to China’s actions in the West Philippine Sea.

The filing of a protest was among the five-point strategy suggested by Carpio on how the government could respondent to China’s building activities in the Panatag Shoal.

Carpio said the government could also send the Philippine Navy to patrol the shoal.

“If the Chinese attack Philippine Navy vessels, then [we will] invoke the Philippine-US Mutual Defense Agreement which covers any armed attack on Philippine navy vessels operating in the South China Sea,” Carpio said.

He said the government may ask the US to declare the shoal part of Philippine territory and accept the standing US offer to hold joint patrols in the South China Sea for that purpose.

He also advised Duterte to “avoid any act, statement or declaration that expressly or impliedly waives Philippine sovereignty to any Philippine territory in the West Philippine Sea.”

Carpio said Duterte had the constitutional duty to defend the Panatag Shoal against China’s incursions.

He earlier warned that the installation of a radar on the shoal would complete China’s air defense identification zone in the South China Sea.

China seized the Panatag Shoal in 2012 after a tense standoff between Chinese and Filipino vessels. China is denying Filipino fishermen access to the shoal’s rich fishing stock. 

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