President Marcos expressed his concerns over reports of Chinese Coast Guard and Navy ships being seen roaming inside the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
“It’s worrisome because there are two elements to that: one is that the… Dati Coast Guard lang ng China ang gumagalaw doon sa area natin. Ngayon, may Navy na sumama pa mga fishing boat,” the President said in a media interview.
(It’s worrying because there are two things to consider: first, it used to be just the China Coast Guard moving around in our area. Now, the Navy has joined in with the fishing boats.)
The President, however, assured the government would continue to assert its sovereignty in the area and would keep assisting fishermen in the area.
“We just watch, of course, what everybody is doing, but really for us, patuloy pa rin natin, we just defend our maritime territory. We continue to support all of our fishermen, fisherfolks who make their living from these fishing grounds at patuloy naman nating tutulungan sila,” the President said.
(We just watch what everyone else is doing, but for us, we will continue to defend our maritime territory. We will continue to support all of our fishermen, who make their living from these fishing grounds, and we will continue to help them.)
The President is on his way to Australia for a two-day visit to meet with its leaders.
The Department of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday said the President is expected to raise the current tension in the South China Sea during his visit.
