Chinese contractors perform poorly, anyway — Zubiri
SENATE President Juan Miguel Zubiri yesterday said the Marcos administration should stop tapping Chinese contractors for its infrastructure projects and deal with “reputable and reliable” foreign contractors instead.
During the Development Budget Coordinating Council (DBCC) briefing on the proposed P5.768 trillion national budget for 2024, Zubiri told Marcos’ economic managers that hiring Chinese contractors for the construction of major infrastructure facilities may have implications, especially amid China’s bullying activities in the West Philippine Sea.
“Ang punto ko diyan (My point is), what is the policy of ours to protect our sovereignty in this country? Maybe we need to make a national stand on how we can look at other options for our country… I think in the future projects, if you want to do the bridges connecting Regions 6, the Cavite-Bataan bridge, why don’t we look at Japan, South Korea, on that aspect,” Zubiri said.
He noted that at present, Chinese companies seem to dominate the government’s construction projects.
He said Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista recently told him that China has either abandoned major projects of the Department of Transportation (DOTR) or has performed poorly.
“As records show, palpak naman ang kontrata nila (they perform poorly and) they never followed through with it,” Zubiri said.
He said that according to Bautista, the Chinese contractors were supposed to construct the Clark Freeport, a railway system from Manila to the Bicol region, and a rail system in Mindanao but they abandoned the projects.
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said “there are only a few Chinese projects” in the country, most of which broke ground during the Duterte administration and were financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
“When it’s an ADB project, any member country can actually compete in the bidding of the project and if a Chinese contractor wins, we cannot do anything about it,” Diokno said.
He, however, confirmed Zubiri’s statement that the Chinese contractors have abandoned the said projects.
Diokno said while the government can get Japanese or South Korean contractors, both countries lack the appropriate number of workers as they are facing a manpower crisis.
But Zubiri insisted that “it makes no sense” for the government to give billions of pesos of projects to Chinese contractors “who will bring profits back to China.”
“And that profit, because it’s state-owned, will go back to fund their different activities in the West Philippine Sea. Parang niluluto natin ang sarili sa sariling mantika (We’re being fried in our fat.) Why do we still have several Chinese state-owned contractors doing contracts for us here being paid by Filipino taxpayers?” he said, adding the presence of too many Chinese workers in the country also has national security concerns since members of the People’s Liberation Army may be among them.
Diokno said shifting away from China with regard to the construction of major government projects “might affect the implementation of those projects.”
BUDGET CUTS
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa asked the Department of Budget and Management if it is possible to cut the budgets of certain agencies and realign these to the defense sector to augment its funds and strengthen the country’s external security amid the tension in the West Philippine Sea.
“For example, I will defend the defense budget on the floor. I will make the request for our troops so they can buy water cannons and laser lights so they can get even,” Dela Rosa said.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said slashing the budgets of agencies to realign it to the defense sector would be hard to do since all agencies have already laid out their budget proposals.
She said the defense sector should have been vocal in asking for additional funds.
‘ACT OF WAR’
At the House of Representatives, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo refused to say if China has committed an act of war against the Philippines for its recent water cannon attack on the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and two indigenous boats near Ayungin Shoal in the WPS.
“We’re still committed to China to manage our disputes peacefully and that’s the way we’re both working,” Manalo told Rep. Raoul Manuel (PL, Kabataan) during the hearing of the House Committee on Appropriations on the Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) P23 billion proposed national budget for 2024 on Tuesday afternoon.
Manalo echoed President Marcos Jr.’s pronouncement that the country’s foreign policy “is an independent foreign policy where the Philippines is friends to all, and we will pursue that.”
“Now, what other countries might do is really beyond our control. But we are really committed to being friends to all,” he told the panel chaired by Rep. Zaldy Co (PL, Ako Bicol).
Manalo also avoided directly answering Manuel, a member of the militant Makabayan bloc, when he asked if it is “wise” for the country to already be on a war footing because of the latest incident.
“First, we’re not on a war footing. What we’re simply doing is trying to actually protect our sovereignty in the EEZ (exclusive economic zone) through diplomatic and peaceful means,” he told the youth representative.
In his keynote speech at the “Dialogue on Maritime Governance in the South China Sea” in Makati City, Manalo said intimidation, threats and harassment in the South China Sea constitute a threat to peace, stability, and prosperity in the region.
“The use of force and threat of use of force, or acts of intimidation, by any party in the South China Sea, subvert the regime of collaboration and shared stewardship that is key to affirming this body of water as a sea of peace, stability and prosperity,” Manalo said, as he reiterated Manila’s position that maritime disputes should be resolved under the aegis of the UNCLOS.
“To the Philippines, the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is the arbiter of good governance and order in the South China Sea, as to the international community that recognizes it as the world’s Constitution for the Oceans,” Manalo added.
The DFA chief said the UNCLOS and the 2016 arbitral award provide a solid foundation for the peaceful resolution of disputes and a regime in the South China Sea that guarantees peace and prosperity for all nations and citizens in the region.
He added a Code of Conduct, which finds its moorings in UNCL OS, is part of the diplomatic solution for the management and resolution of disputes in the South China Sea.
“The Philippines advocates for an effective and substantive code of conduct that adheres to UNCLOS and takes into account the interests of all stakeholders, even extending beyond ASEAN and China. This approach is crucial if we are to maintain an open, inclusive, and free Indo-Pacific region and its momentum as the engine of global economic growth and transformation and in effect, the upliftment of the lives of millions of Asian citizens yet in the threshold of much-improved well-being,” Manalo said.
Manalo announced during the event that Manila will host next week the 40th Meeting of the ASEAN- China Joint Working Group on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
On August 5, six China Coast Guard vessels and two Chinese maritime militia vessels were subjected to repeated dangerous maneuvers and water cannoning two Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessels and two indigenous boats near Ayungin Shoal. Three Chinese Navy vessels were near the shoal, observing the incident.
The PCG vessels were escorting the boats that were chartered by the Armed Forces to deliver food, water and other supplies needed by Filipino troops manning the BRP Sierra Madre which was grounded in 1999 at the Ayungin Shoal.
Following the incident, China repeated its call for the Philippines to remove the grounded Navy ship, and even invoked a supposed Philippine commitment to remove the vessel.
Philippine officials have denied that there is such commitment with the President saying that if such an agreement exists, “I rescind that agreement as of now.”
‘DISRESPECTING THE PRESIDENT’
Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez slammed Chinese embassy deputy chief of mission Zhou Zhiyong for allegedly “disrespecting” the President when he insisted in a news forum that the Philippines has promised to tow the grounded Navy ship.
“His insistence amounted to disrespect and an insult because President Marcos had declared days earlier that he had made no such promise and that he was scrapping any such commitment if one was made by any of his predecessors. Mr. Zhou and his government should have just accepted the President’s declaration,” he said in a statement.
Rodriguez said the DFA should summon the Chinese embassy’s deputy chief of mission “to impress upon him the President’s firm statement that no such promise has been made and that the Philippines does not intend to remove BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin as a symbol of our country’s sovereign rights over that area.”
“Ayungin is about 194 kilometers from Palawan and is clearly within our EEZ. The shoal is more than 3,000 kilometers from the nearest Chinese island. Who are they to tell us to abandon our own maritime territory?” the lawmaker asked.
In the news forum, the Chinese diplomat also reportedly lamented that the Philippines has not responded to China’s repeated requests for dialogue to maintain peace in the disputed areas in the South China Sea.
News reports quoted him as saying: “China has repeatedly expressed its willingness to resolve differences with the Philippines through bilateral dialogues. We hope that the Philippines side will abide by the existing consensus and cherish the hard-won situation in our bilateral relations. Meet the Chinese side halfway and find an effective way of managing the situation on the sea through diplomatic consultations.”
Rodriguez said the country cannot meet Beijing halfway in managing the situation in the West Philippine Sea, as suggested by the Chinese diplomat, “because that Ayungin area belongs to us.”
“You do not negotiate with anyone encroaching on your backyard. You exert effort to drive him away,” he said. “Why should we involve China in managing our own maritime territory? They should leave that area and the sea features they have seized, including Mischief Reef, also off Palawan in the south, and Scarborough Shoal near Zambales and Pangasinan in the north.”
In an interview, Manalo said he is not aware of any proposal for urgent talks from China to address the maritime territorial dispute between the two countries.
“Not that I’m aware of but we are willing to talk,” Manalo told reporters in a chance interview after he delivered the keynote speech at the Dialogue on Maritime Governance in the South China Sea in Makati City.
He likewise said he has “never seen any” document stating Manila’s supposed promise to remove the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal. “We’ve already asked them on so many levels for a copy but they have never given us a copy,” the DFA chief said.
UN RESOLUTION
The Foreign Affairs Secretary also told the House panel that it would be more prudent for the country to just continue using its 2016 arbitral victory over China instead of bringing the matter to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) by filing a resolution since the issue will be politicized “and we cannot predict how countries will vote or support.”
It is also uncertain if the Philippine government can get enough support from the international community if a UNGA resolution calling out Chinese aggression and incursions in the Philippines’ EEZ is filed, Manalo said.
“A ruling is legally in place, why would a political body decide on it? That is one of the considerations in having a UNGA resolution,” Manalo said, reacting to a Senate resolution, which, among other goals, seeks to draw more international attention to China’s harassment and aggression in the West Philippine Sea.
Manalo said some countries that were quiet before have now come out with statements in favor of the Philippines such as Australia, South Korea and India and the government would rather pursue such an approach of gathering enough support “from partners who share our positions and views.”
At one point, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman inquired if the DFA has the data on the “magnitude” of the sovereign territorial properties of the Philippines in the WPS illegally occupied and developed by China “in contumacious defiance of the arbitral decision in favor of the Philippines against the spurious claims of China.”
Manalo admitted that the DFA does not have such important data but the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has the data.
Yesterday morning, during the budget hearing on the DENR’s P24 billion proposed budget for 2024, NAMRIA confirmed that it has the data but the DENR refused to disclose it pending a security clearance from the National Security Council (NSC).
Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Loyzaga said she was advised by the DENR’s representative in the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea that the data being asked needs an NSC clearance because while the NAMRIA can provide data on boundaries of our territorial areas, the DENR cannot just make public the actual identification of illegally occupied areas.
“It is of international and public knowledge that China has unlawfully grabbed Philippine properties in the WPS. Filipinos are entitled to know the extent of the rapacity of China. The magnitude of China’s incursions must not be shrouded in ineptitude and secrecy,” Lagman said.
ENVOY TO CHINA
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said the President has appointed former foreign affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. as his special envoy to the People’s Republic of China for Special Concerns.
The PCO took to Facebook in announcing the appointment of Locsin, who is the current ambassador to the United Kingdom, with jurisdiction over Ireland, Isle of Man, and the Bailiwick of Jersey and Guernsey.
Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil, in a message to media, said the latest appointment of Locsin as the President’s envoy to China on special concerns will be on a concurrent capacity.
It was unclear what Locsin’s additional functions are but in a text message, Garafil said: “(His appointment is meant) to boost bilateral relations between the two countries (China and Philippines).”
He was appointed by Marcos as ambassador to the United Kingdom in September.
He also served as the Philippines’ permanent representative to the United Nations in 2017 before he was named foreign affairs secretary. — With Wendell Vigilia, Ashzel Achero and Jocelyn Montemayor
