Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 19) — Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri issued a warning against China as it continues to pose threats to Filipinos in the West Philippine Sea, saying the upper chamber will pass a resolution urging the Philippine government to bring the issue before the international community.
“My message to our neighbors in China: Get out of our territory…They are claiming that whole area (Recto Bank) as theirs which is, in practical terms for me, unbelievable. It’s a creeping invasion,” Zubiri told CNN Philippines’ The Source on Wednesday.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on July 7 raised concerns over the growing number of Chinese fishing vessels in the disputed waters which was seen as a “threat” to oil and gas-rich Recto Bank’s security.
During a patrol on June 30, the AFP reported that pilots aboard NV312— a Britten Norman Islander light patrol aircraft of the Philippine Navy— saw 48 Chinese fishing vessels roaming the Iroquois Reef, which is south of Recto Bank.
Recto Bank, also known as Reed Bank, is part of the Philippines 200 nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) but is being contested by China.
A 2016 Hague ruling has upheld the Philippines’ sovereign rights and jurisdiction in its EEZ and nullified Beijing’s claims over the West Philippine Sea. China, however, has continued to reject this.
Zubiri said senators will pass a resolution to push the government, especially President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to raise the issue during the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
“We’re going to pass a resolution recommending it to our government agencies like the Department of Foreign Affairs and to the president himself that we should file all the evidence in the last seven years since the Arbitral Ruling, photographic, video evidence, and we’ll show to them what they’ ve been doing is building reclaiming islands, building bases,” he said.
Zubiri said similar resolutions have been issued in the past, and senators were unanimous in all of these.
