Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 16) — Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said the Philippine government has filed more than 400 diplomatic protests over the West Philippine Sea issue since 2020.
Manalo said during the deliberations on the proposed 2024 Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) budget that the bulk of these protests was lodged against Beijing and that the East Asian giant responded to some of these diplomatic representations.
“We have issued 447 protests since 2020, of which 400 have more or less been addressed to China,” Manalo said on Tuesday. “The others have been addressed to other countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia.”
Lawmakers asked the country’s top diplomat if there has been any response from Beijing when it comes to these protests.
“Now China has responded in many ways, but in general, I cannot give all the details,” Manalo said. “But in general, they have justified what has happened.”
Among the recent incident involving China in the West Philippine Sea was the Aug. 5 firing of water cannons at Philippine resupply boats en route to Ayungin Shoal.
“They [Chinese goverment] sometimes don’t always reply to our notes, but they have replied on at least since this year 25 of our protests,” the DFA chief added.
China maintained that the actions of the Chinese Coast Guard were restrained and they only implemented necessary measures to prevent Manila from bringing “large-scale” construction materials to BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal.
The Philippine government stressed that it has every right to deliver supplies and provisions to troops stationed in BRP Sierra Madre.
“We will continue to file our regular protest as well as in case there are other events or incidents like what [happened] to Ayungin, and that will be subject of a separate new protest again to China,” Manalo said.
