MALACANANG said Tuesday it was studying the possibility of lodging a diplomatic protest against China over the reported unveiling of a monument on Fiery Reef (Kagitingan) in the dispuited South China Sea.
The Palace said it would lodge diplomatic action against China over the construction of a monument which some experts said would cement its claim to the disputed region.
In a text message, the Palace said the Department of Foreign Affairs would be preparing and exploring the possibility of a diplomatic protest.
Meanwhile, Akbayan Party-list Rep. Tom Villarin frowned on China’s unveilng of a monument to mark its construction work in the disputed South China Sea.
“For the nth time, China has violated our territorial sovereignty and entrenched its de facto occupation of our islands with nary a whimper from the Duterte administration,” said Villarin.
“There is now a clear danger that we are giving up our claims on the WPS [West Philippine Sea] by our continuing default in invoking the UNCLOS [United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea] Arbitral Tribunal ruling. If we don’t assert now, it will be lost forever,” Villarin added.
Based from the People’s Liberation Army Daily website, it reported that the monument was unveiled last Monday at the Fiery Cross Reef on the Spratly Islands, where China has built one of its airstrips and other military facilities.
The report said the monument was one way of telling its neighbors that China was firm in protecting its territory and maritime rights.
Washington had expressed concern over the said monument and planned military construction and even caused tension among its neighbors with overlapping claims in the disputed waters. Vito Barcelo, Maricel V. Cruz and Sara Susanne Fabunan
However, since the unveiling of the monument, the Philippines has yet to make a comment.
Asean members including the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia have overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
China has been claiming 90 percent or the whole part of South China Sea, saying it has every right to build on what it claimed their base from the 9-dash line of its so called ancient Chinese map.