Senator Erwin Tulfo on Thursday moved for a subpoena against Department of National Defense (DND) officials after they skipped a Senate hearing on the Philippines’ position on the One China policy.
The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations invited Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Jr. to testify, but no one from the department appeared to represent him.
“How can we proceed? The DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) Secretary is having a hard time trying to answer these questions, when it is not in her territory. Only the Defense department and the Armed Forces of the Philippines can answer all these questions,” Tulfo said.
The lawmaker said the absence of defense officials left lawmakers without clear answers on whether the Philippines would honor its Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States in the event of conflict in the Taiwan Strait.
The committee approved Tulfo’s motion, which will be transmitted to Senate President Francis Escudero for the formal issuance of a subpoena.
During the hearing, Tulfo also questioned whether the Philippines should continue observing the One China policy while Beijing continued to “trample” on Philippine rights in the West Philippine Sea.
“They can come in and out, and we have no say to the point that our Coast Guard and Navy personnel are being harassed, our fishermen driven away back to our shores,” the senator lamented.
Tulfo said China’s deployment of navy ships and armed rubber boats near Ayungin Shoal showed an escalation beyond coast guard activity.
He commented that the Philippines is relying solely on diplomacy against military aggression, likening the strategy to “bringing a pen to a gunfight.”
Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro defended diplomacy as the government’s main tool, noting that mechanisms with China had reduced some incidents and helped document violations for legal use.
Senator Imee Marcos, who chairs the committee, said more than 300 diplomatic protests had been filed with little effect, suggesting Beijing was ignoring Manila’s complaints.
Tulfo countered that diplomacy without deterrence amounted to weakness and said the Senate needed to hear directly from defense leaders on how the country was preparing.
“I think it’s high time that we think about our position if we must continue to observe this One China policy because the fact is they do not respect us while we respect what they want,” he said.
