By Charmaine A. Tadalan and Camille A. Aguinaldo
BRIEFING a House panel on the country’s diplomatic issues with China, Foreign Affairs secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano said “several dozens” of protests have been filed by the administration over the past two years.
Meanwhile, a resolution was filed at the Senate on Wednesday, signed by eight senators, urging the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to file a diplomatic protest over the increasing militarization of China in the South China Sea.
“We are filing, we have been filing diplomatic protests, but the critics want us to announce it loudly and to confront China each and every time through the media,” Mr. Cayetano said before the House Special Committee on the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
When asked, Mr. Cayetano said some 50 to 100 protests were made in the past two years. He, however, explained a protest can be as simple as a verbal disagreement.
“There are different forms of protest. It’s the content that’s material,” he said.
The country’s top diplomat also assured representatives the government is protecting the country’s sovereign rights through the Duterte way, that is “traditional building of trust through diplomacy.”
“Just because we’re not using the term arbitration award, that doesn’t mean we have given up any of our rights under UNCLOS (United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea) and in fact, we have a bilateral consultative mechanism,” Mr. Cayetano said, noting the arbitration award was brought up with China “twice already.”
For his part, National Security Adviser Hermogenes C. Esperon, Jr. appealed to Congress to review the country’s military spending to strengthen Philippine forces.
He recounted Congress was supposed to fund the militarization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in 1995, but this failed to push through.
“I don’t want to blame Congress, you must have your own reasons for not giving us P30 billion annually,” Mr. Esperon said. “We have now our second modernization program. Anong ibinibigay natin (What do we give), P25 billion a year, not even sufficient to buy one submarine.”
He added: “Anong instrument of power natin? Diplomatic, doon tayo papunta. Or economic, or legal.” (What’s our instrument of power? Diplomatic, that’s where we go. Or economic, or legal.)
The National Security Adviser also disclosed that President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed on May 16 the National Security Strategy, which they are publishing for the first time.
“We will create an environment where peace and economic development complement each other, we will bolster our position in the community of nations by strengthening our diplomatic relations with our traditional allies,” Mr. Esperon quoted the President as saying.
Mr. Duterte, however, has been critical of the United States from time to time. Japan counts as another longstanding partner of the Philippines.
At an earlier forum on Wednesday, Mr. Esperon said it was unnecessary to file a formal complaint against China in response to its increasing militarization of the South China Sea (SCS).
Mr. Esperon told reporters it was within China’s rights to land bombers at Woody Island in the Paracels as “it is practically their island” and “it is not within our territory.”
“Should we be alarmed? I don’t think so because we are not at war with China… Should we launch a protest against that? Sa palagay ko hindi (I don’t think so),” he said.
At the Senate, Resolution No. 761 emailed to the media read in part: “Now therefore, be it resolved, as it hereby resolved to express the grave concern of the Senate over the increasing militarization by the People’s Republic of China in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea and urge the Department of Foreign Affairs to file a diplomatic protest against the same.”
The resolution was signed by Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto, Senator Joseph Victor G. Ejercito, Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, and opposition Senators Francis N. Pangilinan, Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV, Risa N. Hontiveros-Baraquel, Antonio F. Trillanes IV, and Leila M. De Lima.
The motion cited reports of China’s deployment of weapons defense systems in Philippine-claimed areas in South China Sea and bomber planes in Paracel Islands where Vietnam and Taiwan are also claimants.
It also noted that the government should defend the country’s territories against the “alarming expansion” of China in the region. They also pointed out that existing mechanisms have not been exhausted by the government to prevent China’s actions.
The resolution urged the Philippines to heed the advice of Acting Chief Justice Antonio T. Carpio to immediately file a diplomatic protest, which is recognized by the United Nations Charter as a peaceful and legitimate response.
“The filing of a diplomatic protest is well within the rights of the Government and upholds the primacy of diplomacy over the use of force under international law,” it stated.
The resolution also warned that it may be interpreted as “abandonment of our claim over the West Philippine Sea” should the government fail to lodge a diplomatic protest. — with Dane Angelo M. Enerio

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