Marcos on defending PH territory: It's my duty

MELBOURNE, Australia - ''It's the duty that I took when I came into office.'' 

This was the response of President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. when asked on Monday for his strong stance against China's harassment and provocations in the West Philippine Sea. 

“It wasn’t a matter of policy choice, it is the duty that I took on when I came into office and that’s --- I continue to see it that way and I think that every Filipino sees it that way,” Marcos said before the Lowy Institute. 

“And they depend and they expect their leaders to fulfill that duty. To be true to their oath, to defend the republic and its territory, and its people,'' he added. 

Marcos also cited the first article of the 1987 Constitution, which is the definition of the Philippines' territory.

“And it has been recognized as sovereign territory of the Philippines. And therefore, it was not--- in my view, when I came into office, we simply have no choice, we must defend the territory of the republic. And that is a primordial duty of a leader,” he said. 

In the same event, Marcos said the Philippine government would push back against China if its sovereign rights in the resource-rich region were ignored.

He said the Philippines' interest in the region lies in ensuring that the universal and unified character of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is consistently upheld.—LDF, GMA Integrated News