Senators to sit with Marcos over contentious WPS issue

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

SENATORS are set to brief President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) issue Wednesday night with a view to making the Philippine government adopt a stronger position on the matter particular on China’s persistent harassment of Filipino fishermen in the contested territory.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said they will brief the President about Senate Resolution 718, condemning China’s oppressive acts against the Filipino fishermen.

“It is a private dinner, but we will mention it to the President. Of course, we understand that he has to do a balancing act. He has to be firm and practice diplomacy at the same time,” Zubiri told reporters ahead of the meeting.

“That said, the Senate has to be the bad cop here, so we can give the President more ammunition, that this is the unified voice of the Philippines, so he can say look, I’m getting pressure from the senators. We have to push back [on these Chinese aggression]. Otherwise, we just might wake up and find them in Palawan already,” Zubiri said. The resolution urges China to stop its “illegal activities” in accordance with the

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and with the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).

Zubiri clarified that the senators’ meeting with the President has long been set and was not in response to the Senate Resolution 718.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo has said they were looking at the possibility of bringing the issue of Chinese aggression in the WPS before the UN General Assembly (UNGA).

Chinese aggression has been a grave ccern of the Philippine government even if the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration upheld the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the WPS, outlawed Chinese aggression in common fishing ground areas, and rejected China’s expansive nine-dash-line claim of the entire South China Sea.