MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte will protect all Filipinos, including fishermen, following reports that a fisherman was reportedly harassed by a Chinese coast guard ship near the Philippines-occupied Pag-asa Island, Malacañang said Thursday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this remark after opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros urged the Palace to denounce China's bullying after Filipino fisherman Larry Hugo, 42, recently said that a Chinese coast guard ship tried to block his way to one of the sandbars near Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
“Ang Presidente po ay naninindigan na siya ay Presidente ng Pilipino, poprotektahan niya ang mga Pilipino…Poprotektahan po ni Presidente ang ating mga kababayan (The President will protect our citizens. The President insists that he is President of Filipinos, he will protect Filipinos) in spite of what Senator Risa Hontiveros says,” he said in a Palace press briefing.
Roque shot back at Hontiveros, urging her not to dictate on how the President should do his job.
“Meron tayong separation of powers. Hindi naman po dapat diktahan ni Senator Hontiveros ang ating Presidente at hindi na kinakailangang sabihin kung anong gagawin ng Presidente (We have separation of powers. Senator Hontiveros should not dictate on the President on what he should do),” he added.
In a statement, Hontiveros said the Palace should exert effort to condemn the action of the Chinese coast guard especially in light of the recent passage of the coast guard law that give them the authority to fire on foreign vessels operating in China-claimed waters.
She said the Philippine government should take the side of the Filipino fisherman who was bullied.
The Philippines, China and several Southeast Asian states are locked in a territorial dispute in the South China Sea (SCS).
On July 12, 2016, the Philippines won its arbitration case filed against China when the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that Beijing has “no legal basis” to claim historic rights over almost the entire SCS.
Diplomatic protest welcomed
Roque also welcomed the decision of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to file a diplomatic protest against China’s newly passed coast guard law.
“We welcome the diplomatic protest, of course, of the DFA and this will prove that the Philippines is fully committed to the rule of law and will assert all its rights available under existing principles of international law to defend its interests,” he said.
Asked about the government’s next step after the filing of diplomatic protest, Roque insisted the priority will always be to protect national interest.
“Our independent foreign policy is intended to be friends with everyone, enemies with no one. But we will protect and secure the Philippine national interest. Ang detalye po (The details), we leave it to the Department of National Defense and the Department of Foreign Affairs as well as the Philippine Coast Guard,” he said.
China's top legislative body, the National People's Congress standing committee, earlier passed the said law which allows its coast guard to use “all necessary means” to stop or prevent threats from foreign vessels.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said he filed a diplomatic protest saying that deeper reflection on the issue led him to view that the law could be seen as a "verbal threat of war" to countries that defied it.
Vaccine deal still stands
Despite China’s passage of the coast guard law, Roque assured that it would not have any effect on efforts to secure China-made vaccines.
“Wala pong epekto ‘yan dahil ibang usapin naman ang bakuna. Ang bakuna po (That won’t have any effect because a vaccine is a different story. A vaccine) is actually a humanitarian act of the entire planet earth in response to a humanitarian disaster,” he said.
The Philippines aims to secure 148 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from several companies to inoculate an initial 50 to 70 million Filipinos this year.
The government recently secured 25 million doses of the vaccines developed by China’s Sinovac with an initial 50,000 doses expected to arrive by February. (PNA)
