CRITICIZED for doing nothing to stop Chinese expansion in the West Philippine Sea, President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to visit the Philippine Rise on the other side of the country and warned that he would go to war with any country that dared to claim the massive undersea region.
The President made the announcement in his speech during an assembly of free masons in Davao City, saying he would sail to the Philippine Rise to make known that the region is part of the country’s territory.
Philippine Rise is an offshore frontier facing the Pacific Ocean that is about 24 million hectares in size and is in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, an area where nations have internationally recognized the country’s exclusive rights to exploit fish and fuel resources, and the continental shelf further out in the ocean.
The Philippines filed a diplomatic protest after a Chinese ship was monitored sailing the waters early last year, drawing public attention to the territory, which some believe could be harboring undersea gas and oil deposits.
“Next week, I’m going to set sail, I’m going to Benham Rise,” he said, referring to the region’s original name. “I will make a statement there that nobody but nobody owns this place including the continental shelf, the underground land mass that extends under the sea.”
He said he would wage war on any foreign power that tries to seize control of Philippine territory.
The President’s stand contrasted sharply with his policy in the South China Sea, where China has occupied several areas also claimed by the Philippines.
“When the issue of Benham Rise or Philippine Rise, there were so many ships there doing exploration, and when this crucial question was asked of me ‘What will do you if they also claim it?’ and I said, ‘I will go to war.’ And I will go to war, believe me,” he said.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the ownership of Philippine Rise, awarded by the UN Commission on the Continental Shelf, was undisputed.
Only recently, China succeeded in registering five undersea features of the Philippine Rise, which were approved by the International Hydrographic Organization last year.
Also on Thursday, Duterte slammed the European Parliament for criticizing the drug war in the Philippines, but paying no attention to the rising deaths of innocents from illegal drugs in the United States and Australia.
In his speech in Davao City, the President said that many innocents are dying in Australia and in America because of illegal drugs.
“These idiots especially the European Parliament, they keep on harping on the Philippines of the death of, without a single one complaining about the death of the innocents dying and drug lords living with houses in Australia, in America at the expense of their fellowmen,” Duterte said during a convention of the free masons on Thursday.
The President also deplored the continued meddling by the EU in the country’s political and domestic affairs.
He reminded the Western countries to stop imposing their style of governance, religion and values on other countries.