FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. yesterday ordered the filing of another diplomatic protest against China over the presence of 287 of its vessels in the West Philippine Sea, as reported by the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea.
The Chinese vessels were spotted by maritime patrols on May 9 according to the NTF-WPS.
“DFA fire diplomatic protest,” Locsin said on Twitter.
Locsin earlier vowed to file diplomatic protests until the last Chinese vessel leaves Philippine territory.
Since the Duterte administration assumed power in 2016, the DFA has filed at least 80 diplomatic protests, including about 10 since March when the NTF-WPS revealed the presence of some 200 Chinese vessels at the Julian Felipe Reef near Palawan and is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Most of the vessels have left the area but authorities said they are just scattered in areas in the EEZ.
China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, including the WPS, through which more than $5 trillion worth of goods passes annually.
Beijing has refused to recognize the 2016 arbitral ruling that upheld Manila’s claim over the WPS and debunked China’s sweeping claim under its nine-dash line theory.
Locsin scored the NTF-WPS for issuing a press release on the presence of the Chinese vessels without first informing the DFA. He said on Wednesday that foreign affairs is the “exclusive remit” of the DFA.
“I took this up with the President in Davao. We have a disease: Everybody and his uncle wants to be a hero fighting China from the anonymity of a task force,” he said.
National Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., NTF chairman, said the government has deployed additional assets to patrol Philippine waters.
The NTF on Wednesday said around 300 Chinese vessels, many of them Chinese militia ships, were found scattered in and out of the country’s EEZ since the start of the month.
Esperon, in a radio interview, said the Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, PNP Maritime Group, Philippine Navy, and the Philippine Air Force (PAF) are regularly patrolling the area while members of the PNP-MG will be posted at Kalayaan town in Palawan starting May 15.
Esperon said the government is monitoring the activities of the vessels, especially the militias, that are within the EEZ to know their purpose for staying in the area is.
He said it is possible that some of the vessels have docked in some of the areas because of the fishing ban imposed by China that started last May 1.
Esperon also said the Philippines is hoping to resolve the dispute through diplomatic ways such as the bilateral consultative talks between China and the Philippines and the pursuit of a biding code of conduct between the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) and China.
He expressed hope the ASEAN-China code of conduct will be finished later this year or in 2022. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
