The government has deployed more assets in the West Philippine Sea to beef up the country’s sovereignty patrols as National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. urged Filipinos to go out and fish in the area despite the presence of Chinese vessels.
“You are encouraged to go out and fish. We have deployed Philippine Coast Guard assets as well as Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources assets,” Esperon said.
“There is no prohibition for us,” he added.
On Wednesday, the National Task Force on the WPS, which is chaired by Esperon, said it has coordinated the deployment of four PCG vessels, one PCG aircraft, five BFAR vessels, and high-speed tactical watercraft and rubber boats of the Philippine National Police-Maritime Group.
“In compliance with the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to sustain our sovereignty patrols in the WPS, increase safety of life at sea operations, and [intensify] operations against illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing (IUUF), the NTF-WPS has coordinated for the deployment of more assets under the control of its Area Task Forces (ATF),” said NTF-WPS spokesperson Omar Romero.
At present, 14 vessels and five aircraft have been patrolling the area of ATF West while eight vessels and six aircraft are deployed in the area under ATF North.
“The foregoing whole-of-nation approach to protect our national interest in the WPS manifests the firm rejection of the Philippine government of any attempt to undermine the 2016 Arbitral Award,” the NTF-WPS said in a statement.
In a July 2016 ruling, the Hague-based UN Court rejected China’s claim of sovereignty over the entire South China Sea, which invalidated Beijing’s massive nine-dash line claims over the waterway and upheld Manila’s exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea.
Duterte earlier warmed that asserting the country’s claims could only be done by force, and such an action would only be triggered if China started drilling for oil.
The President also lashed out at critics who wanted him to confront China over the continued presence of Chinese warships at the Julian Felipe Reef, located within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone about 175 nautical miles west of Bataraza, Palawan.
“If we go there, really to find out and to assert jurisdiction, it would be bloody. It would result in violence that maybe we cannot win. The issue of the West Philippine Sea remains a question forever until such time that we can take it back. For me, it would only start war,” Duterte added.
However, retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said the government cannot just “fold up” to China’s repeated incursion in the country’s EEZ.
“A country cannot just fold up and give up just because the other side is stubborn. That is a childish mentality,” Carpio said in an interview with GMA-7.
“Getting a UN (United Nations) resolution in your country’s favor is already a huge victory because that means the world community is behind your country,” he added.
Carpio played a role in the country’s legal victory at the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea’s PCA.
China has rejected the PCA’s arbitral award in favor of the Philippines.