NOY TO CHINA: PULL OUT SHIPS FROM SHOAL;
DEFENDING KALAYAAN ISLAND
[PHOTO
-President Benigno Aquino III. President
Benigno Aquino on Wednesday said he would order government vessels back to
Scarborough Shoal once the stormy weather clears, if ships from China have not
left the area by then. Speaking to reporters after attending a convention of the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao at Waterfront Hotel in Davao City, Mr.
Aquino said a military plane would fly to Scarborough Shoal as soon as the
weather clears to see if China's vessels were still there. "If there is a
presence in our territorial waters then we will redeploy [our vessels]," Mr.
Aquino said. "If there is no presence of other vessels that might impinge on our
sovereignty, then there is no need to redeploy."INQUIRER FILE PHOTO]
MANILA, JULY 6, 2012 (PHILSTAR)
By Aurea Calica - President Aquino yesterday called on China to pull
out all its ships from Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal as he assailed Beijing for
asking the Philippines to stop making provocative statements while itself
continuing to talk.
"It's not clear to me what provocative statements the Philippines or Filipino
officials have made. But we know that the other side has been saying a lot. So
maybe they should read first what have been written on their end and with all
due respect, maybe they can balance that with reality," Aquino said yesterday.
Malacañang also said that the redeployment of ships to Panatag Shoal, also
known as Bajo de Masinloc, would depend on the weather.
"There are many schools of thought on how to handle (or) how to deal with the
Chinese. So we will be getting, in effect, a discussion on the opposite points
of view on what is the best approach to settle this issue," Aquino noted.
As this developed, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) summoned on
Wednesday China's top diplomat in the Philippines and gave her a note verbale
protesting Beijng's establishment of a new "prefectural-level" city of Sansha to
administer three disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea and future
development of the islands.
"The DFA sent a note verbale dated 28 June 2012 and handed this to Ambassador
Ma yesterday, protesting the establishment of Sansha City as the extent of the
jurisdiction of the city violates Philippine territorial sovereignty over the
Kalayaan Island Group (Spratlys) and Bajo de Masinloc and infringes on
Philippine sovereign rights over the waters and continental shelf of the West
Philippine Sea," Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said.
He pointed out "it was a diplomatic protest" since the declaration of the
establishment of Sansha City contradicts the spirit of the Declaration of
Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and the non-aggression accord in 2002.
A senior security official also noted that China's latest move showed that it
has no respect towards its neighbors when it comes to peacefully settling
territorial disputes in the region.
"With the way Beijing is behaving, it only showed that they don't have any
respect towards its neighbors," the security official, who asked not be named,
said.
Contrary to Beijing's claim that the Philippines is plotting to further
increase the tension in the region, its present actions to bolster its
territorial claim of the entire South China Sea showed otherwise, the security
official said.
Earlier, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Chinese officials and the
state media were the ones who should be careful about issuing statements.
"Can I say to the Chinese 'xiao xin yi dian.' Be a little careful about your
statements," Lacierda said in reaction to a commentary in the People's Daily of
China, which admonished the Philippine government for its plan to ask the United
States to deploy spy planes over the West Philippine Sea to help monitor the
country's territorial waters.
Lacierda stressed the Philippines has the right to explore all options in
safeguarding its territorial waters, including seeking help from the US.
He added that the request should be viewed in the context of the defense
cooperation between the Philippines and the US.
"So there's no issue to us. We do not view it as a provocative statement,"
Lacierda said. "And as the President said, by no stretch of the imagination can
you consider the Philippines as an aggressor."
Defending Kalayaan
[PHOTO -(AFP/File) - Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon points to a map showing
the island of Kalayaan, which means "Freedom" in the Filipino language, created
in 1978 to assert the Philippines' claim to the disputed territory in the
Spratlys. For the few dozen Filipinos living on a remote speck of contested land
in the South China Sea, each day is a battle against loneliness but also a love
affair with nature.(AFP/File/Noel Celis)]
Meanwhile, Kalayaan, Palawan Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon said his civilian
constituents in the Spratly region are not disturbed by China's current
aggression.
"We are not disturbed at all," Bito-onon said, adding that aside from the
Philippines, China has also to deal with other Spratlys claimant countries if
Beijing so decides to settle the territorial dispute by force.
Western Command (Wescom) commander Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban also vowed that
they would defend at all costs Kalayaan municipality.
"We will keep on doing our duty, prepare for any contingency and let our
leaders do the high level solutions. Kalayaan municipality is ours. We will
defend it," Sabban said.
Wescom, a composite military unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP), has operational jurisdictions over the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) and
has forward troops deployed in the region.
The Philippines and China are currently locked in a territorial dispute not
only in Panatag Shoal but also in the Spratly region, which is also being
claimed in whole or in part by Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.
The Spratly archipelago is a chain of islets, reefs, atolls and sand bars
straddling the South China Sea, which is believed to be rich in mineral and fuel
deposits.
Panatag Shoal is located 124 nautical miles from Zambales Province and is
within the Philippines' 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and
continental shelf.
China stands on a historical claim while the Philippines has taken the view
that Beijing's claim is not supported by the United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) - With Pia Lee-Brago, Jaime Laude,
AP
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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