In a surprise move from one of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s critic in the Senate, senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson called on the Filipino people to rally and stand behind Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
“Filipinos should
stand foursquare behind DND (Department of National Defense) Secretary Delfin
Lorenzana for making known his strong position in defending our country’s
sovereign rights over the Whitsun Reef (Julian Felipe Reef) – and before that,
the Mischief Reef, occupied by the Chinese during the period 1994-1995 and the
Scarborough Shoal, which China cordoned off in 2012,” Senator Ping Lacson said
in a statement April 5.
Lacson said
the Philippines’ claim for sovereign rights “have legal basis under the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the existing arbitral ruling in
our favor.”
Sen. Panfilo Lacson
(photo credit to owner)
“A sad reality is that
while the ruling is permanent, it is unenforceable. The situation is made worse
when our country’s leaders and foreign policy decision makers resort to
acquiesce bordering on implied derogation of our sovereignty,” the senator
added.
“Even amid this
pandemic, such “health crisis opportunism” being applied by China does not
speak well of the assumed trust and goodwill between the two Asian allies. That
said, our country is losing tens of billions of pesos a year in “stolen”
aquatic resources, not to mention the wanton destruction of corals within our
Exclusive Economic Zone that threatens our food security,” Lacson said.
“The fact that we are
a militarily weak country that cannot match China’s military power should
compel us to resort to establishing stronger alliances not only with other
Asia-Pacific neighbors like Australia and Japan and the other ASEAN countries,
but our long-standing western allies like the US and Europe. Only through a
clear message that the presence of “balance of power” in the West Philippine
Sea can help us in this regard,” he explained.
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