A STAUNCH critic of the Duterte administration on Tuesday denouced the reported move of the government to stop sending Navy ships to Panatag Shoal for more than a year now.
Magdalo Party-list Rep. Gary Alejano, an opposition member in the House of Representatives, said he received information that since January 2016 to the present, the Philippine Navy had not conducted a single mission to Panatag Shoal.
Navy ships are regularly sent to Panatag Shoal to bring supplies and food to the Marines assigned there.
“The frequent visits of Philippine Navy ships were noted in 2012 during a standoff with the Chinese Coast Guard. In the years that followed, very few patrols were conducted. In 2016, the government eventually ordered the complete halt of patrols in the area,” Alejano said.
Alejano made the disclosure following the statement of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. the government had recently stopped sending Navy ships in Panatag Shoal for patrolling. Esperon said the halt in Navy patrols was meant to ease tensions with China and avert harassment from Chinese forces.
Alejano disproved Esperon.
“His [Esperon’s] statement holds little to no merit at all since the Philippines has already stopped conducting Navy patrols for almost two years now. This is a clear attempt to hide the fact that we have long ceased our efforts to strengthen our claims on the disputed areas,” Alejano said.
“Apparently, we have already reduced our presence in Panatag since early last year—yet there still have been cases of Chinese harassment in the area in the months that followed. Instead of deterring incidence of harassment, Chinese forces have become more bold and fearless. In fact, some of our fishermen have opted not to venture [out] anymore in Panatag for fear and worry of wasting their food and fuel just to be blocked by the Chinese,” he added.
Alejano, a former Marine captain, said the Philippines had been sending Navy ships to Panatag before because the Philippine Coast Guard had limited capability to conduct patrols that far.
“At an average, a PCG ship is sent to Panatag once a month and would stay there for just a day. This means that the presence of PCG in Panatag could be felt for only 12 days in a year. There were even instances that patrol was done for every two or three months only. How can our government assist our fishermen when all our ships could do is to travel back and forth Panatag? This is tantamount to no effort at all,” Alejano said.
At the same time, Alejano said he received information that the Philippine government ordered its Armed Forces to stop the aerial patrols over Panatag Shoal.
“The AFP was ordered to desist from conducting aerial patrols over Panatag Shoal. However, the AFP insisted otherwise. The compromise then was to conduct aerial patrols only once a month. It is extremely disheartening to see our own government limiting the AFP from performing its mandate,” Alejano said.
He said the pullout only showed how the Philippine government had become subservient to China.
“We have practically surrendered our rights in the West Philippine Sea by acceding to the requests, or shall we say pressures from China. The Duterte administration has bargained our claims in the West Philippine Sea in exchange for promised economic concessions,” Alejano said.
Earlier, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced President Duterte ordered a halt to the construction of nipa huts in one of the sandbars of Pag-asa Island.
The construction was meant to provide temporary refuge to Filipino fishermen.
Meanwhile, the Chinese military and coast guard are maintaining their presence amid calls to stop militarization in the South China Sea.
Meanwhile, as this year’s chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano admitted he had no choice but to vote against the United Nations resolution on the human rights situation in Myanmar.
In a television interview, Cayetano said if the Philippines would vote for the UN resolution, Asean might lose access to Myanmar and would not be able to help the internally displaced citizens there, through the Philippine Red Cross and International Red Cross.
“Because if we [vote] yes as Asean chair, Myanmar leaders will harden against us…” Cayetano said in an interview through ANC’s Headstart.
Cayetano admitted there was indeed a “grave situation” happening in Myanmar, and that his only option was either vote “no or abstain” for the Asean Humanitarian Assistance could have access to the troubled state.
The Philippines, along with some of Asean members—Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar—voted against a UN General Assembly committee draft resolution on the human rights situation in Myanmar.
While, Asean coutnries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and other 131 countries voted in favor of the resolution and 26 abstained.
The draft text called on Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi for full and unhindered humanitarian aid access and for Myanmar to grant full citizenship rights to Rohingya Muslims, who are treated by Buddhists as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
Cayetano said if the Philippines was not chairman of the Asean, the country would “probably abstain” and if a country was not part of the regional bloc as Myanmar, Manila would vote yes.