Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Friday rejected the assertion of former Foreign Affairs secretary Albert Del Rosario that the Philippines is a willing victim of China’s abuses in the West Philippine Sea.
He told Dobol B on News 5 that the public was just not aware of what the Duterte administration had been doing to protect the country’s rights and interests in the disputed areas.
“I don't believe we're being willingly oppressed. A lot of people don't know what the National Security Council is doing,” Sotto said, adding the government was just not vocal about what it had been doing.
He made his statement even as former senator Juan Ponce Enrile on Friday said he agreed with President Duterte’s strategy in dealing with China on the issue of the West Philippine Sea.
He also hailed the Duterte administration’s foreign policy.
“They have aircraft carriers. They have submarines. Missiles. What do we have?” said Enrile at the sidelines of his pre-trial at the Sandiganbayan on Friday.
Meanwhile, former solicitor general Florin Hilbay on Friday said China would not risk war with the Philippines over the disputed territories, noting that trade amounting to trillions of dollars passing through the South China Sea.
“Yung Tsina mismo walang interes na makipag-giyera sa atin dahil limang trilyong komersiyo ang nakalagay sa South China Sea na ‘yan,” Hilbay told News To Go.
He said the country should not be afraid that any protest action with regard to Chinese activities in the West Philippine Sea might result in war with Beijing.
Sotto said that during the NSC meeting, they discussed the Duterte administration’s efforts in asserting the Filipinos’ rights in the disputed areas.
“We just do not broadcast it. China knows that we are asserting our rights on the territory,” Sotto said.
He said the stand of the NSC was to fight for the islands claimed by the Philippines.
“What we’re talking right now is about what’s ours, what’s in the international waters. That’s the stand of the National Security Council,” Sotto said.
As the Philippines marked the second anniversary of its victory before the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague on the West Philippine Sea, Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros dared the Department of Foreign Affairs to bare its so-called 50-100 diplomatic protests against China, which the Foreign Affairs secretary claimed to have lodged.
“We demand transparency. The people have the right to be informed,” Hontiveros said.
She filed Senate Resolution 786 that directs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to conduct a foreign policy audit to scrutinize and review the diplomatic protests lodged by the Department of Foreign Affairs against China with respect to China’s actions in the West Philippine Sea.
“I challenge the DFA to bare its so-called 50-100 diplomatic protests against China, which the Foreign Affairs Secretary claims to have lodged. The people have the right to be informed. Present proof,” Hontiveros said.
She accused the Duterte administration’s apparent subservient relationship with China, its policy of silence and secrecy regarding its foreign policy, as well as China’s harassment of Filipino fishermen.
Hontiveros said it was reported that in a briefing in May 2018, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the Philippines had filed “several dozens, maybe 50 to 100” diplomatic protests against China for its incursions in disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea.
However, when pressed to explain further, Cayetano refused. With Maricel V. Cruz