Senators file resolution urging DFA to file protest over China militarization

Eight senators on Wednesday filed a resolution urging the Department of Foreign Affaris to file a diplomatic protest amid the alleged increasing militarization by China in the South China Sea.

Senators Francis Pangilinan, Benigno Paolo Aquino IV, Risa Hontiveros, Antonio Trillanes IV, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Leila de Lima, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, and Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto signed Resolution 761.

They said US intelligence sources reported that China had installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems on Kagitingan Reef, Subi Reef, and Panganiban Reef which all belong to the Philippines.

“The Philippines has sovereignty over Kagitingan and Zamora Reefs, as well as exclusive sovereign rights over Panganiban Reef as decided by the Permanent Court of Arbitration,” the senators said. 

They said the Philippine government must defend the country’s territories against the alarming expansion of military presence of China in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea.

The West Philippine Sea is that portion of the South China Sea over which the Philippines has claims.

“It must not allow the PRC (People’s Republic of China” to continue posing a threat to the Philippine interests in the West Philippine sea and the security of the region,” the senators said.

They said the existing mechanisms being pursued by the government had not been adequate to prevent the actions of China and the filing of a diplomatic protest was well within the rights of the government and upholds the primacy of diplomacy over the use of force under international law.

“Should the government refuse or fail to file a diplomatic protest, such refusal or failure may be interpreted as an abandonment of our claim over the West Philippine Sea, which has been upheld by the Permanent Court of Arbitration,” the senators said.

The senators quoted acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio who said that “failure to formally protest means the Philippines is acquiescing or consenting to the militarization, and worse, to the claim of China that all islands, waters, and resources within the nine-dash line form part of the Chinese territory.” —NB, GMA News