Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Monday denied the request of the Philippine Coast Guard to open 11 archipelagic sea lanes.
“Why I turned down the Coast Guard’s insistence on opening 11 archipelagic lanes instead of three has to do with fisheries and marine conservation,” Locsin said in a Twitter post.
“With 11, we might as well turn over our territorial waters to the nearest naval power. Cheaper than patrolling.”
Locsin made his statement after the Philippine Navy opposed a plan by the Cavite provincial government to move the military service command out of Sangley Point in Cavite as part of a P500-billion airport project that is supposed to ease the congestion at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.
There are now pending measures in Congress seeking to allow the Philippines to identify its archipelagic sea lanes and designate where civilian and military ships could pass through.
Locsin made his statement even as Senator Risa Hontiveros criticized Malacañang's decision to continue several projects involving the Chinese firms that allegedly took part in illegal reclamation activities in the South China Sea.
“This is disappointing. We need to investigate these deals. We need to protect our national interest," Hontiveros said.
"If our position on the issue is unclear to other countries, it will seem like we are not serious in asserting our claim to the disputed territories.”
China has reclaimed and militarized a number of features in the South China Sea, and has rejected the 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated its sweeping claims there.
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Monday pressed the government to terminate its contract with China Communications Construction Company that won the deal to build Sangley Point International Airport in Cavite.
“I urge the immediate cancellation of the contract with CCCC to build Sangley airport on account of its questionable reputation. CCCC has a history of fraud and corruption,” Drilon said.
“We cannot just brush it aside. We cannot turn a blind eye on this.”
Drilon said CCCC was among the Chinese firms blacklisted by the US Department of Commerce for building artificial islands in the West Philippine Sea.
He said the World Bank had also blacklisted the Chinese firm for corrupt practices.
Several groups have repeatedly called on the government to withdraw from the projects with at least 24 Chinese companies that were reportedly involved in reclamation activities in the disputed waters.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque had earlier said that President Rodrigo Duterte chose to keep the deals because the Philippines "needs investors from China."
Before being elected President in 2016, Duterte promised to ride a jetski to one of the China-built artificial islands to assert the country's claim in the area.
But after ascending to power, he forged closer ties with China in exchange for the alleged loans and investments for his administration's infrastructure push.