Senators on Saturday condemned the recent attack by Chinese ships on Philippine vessels on a resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal.
“In this latest incident, we again see China as a bully, using size and brute strength to illegally encroach upon our exclusive economic zone and enforce a baseless right to drive away our protectors,” said Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri.
“But water cannons and blockades will not dampen the will and resolve of our Navy and our Coast Guard to protect our exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea,” he added.
Meanwhile, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez urged the defense-military establishment to stop exposing civilian boats and their crew to danger in resupplying troops stationed at Ayungin Shoal off Palawan.
He made the appeal in the wake of what he described as the “newest incident of bullying and harassment” by the Chinese Coast Guard of civilian boats transporting provisions to a small military contingent in Ayungin.
Zubiri reminded the Chinese Coast Guard that no amount of aggression can undo the fact that its government’s claims to the WPS have already been invalidated by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
“They cannot justify their aggression under the guise of ‘defense,’ when their ships are clearly and disproportionately larger and more advanced than ours,” he said.
The senator commended the Philippine Navy and the Coast Guard for continuously standing their ground and asserting the country’s rights in the EEZ. “Bear in mind that your Philippine Senate is behind you 100%.”
Senator Jinggoy Estrada, meanwhile, said the government should seriously consider heeding the adopted Senate Resolution No. 79 which recommends several courses of action.
One of which, he said, is the filing of a resolution before the United Nations General Assembly to call for the cessation of all activities that harass Philippine vessels and violate our established rights in the WPS.
“In a show of solidarity, my colleagues and I crossed party lines in unanimously passing this resolution which calls out China for its repeated incursions in the WPS and incessant harassment of Filipino fishermen, patrol vessels, and resupply mission teams,” he said.
On the resupply missions, Rodriguez said: “Let’s end this practice. I do not see the rationale for using civilian boats and crew in delivering supplies to our soldiers whose presence in that remote part of the West Philippine Sea symbolizes our national sovereignty and territorial integrity there.”
He said the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines should from now on airdrop supplies.
“We should use the air assets of the Air Force and the Navy to drop the things our patriotic soldiers in Ayungin need,” he said.
“The danger Air Force and Navy personnel would face in those missions is the same as that civilian boat crew have to contend. But unlike civilians who are just doing a civic duty, it is the responsibility of the military to resupply our troops in Ayungin and protect our country’s national sovereignty and territory,” Rodriguez stressed.
He added that the military could use a number of strategies in airdropping supplies.