Work with DFA, young sea protesters told

DEFYING CHIN A group of 47 young Filipino men and women visited Pagasa Island in the Spratly archipelago in a symbolic defiance of China’s claim to almost the entire South China Sea. AFP/KALAYAAN ATIN ITO

Malacañang on Saturday advised a group of young Filipinos planning to go to the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea this summer to coordinate their actions with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

“I believe that if they do have plans, it would be better to have a dialogue and talk with our Department of Foreign Affairs. All of us are interested in holding the flag high and in standing proud for our country. But we are all part of one nation and we are promoting one national interest. Therefore, it would be, I think, good and prudent advice that they have a dialogue with the DFA,” Communications Undersecretary Manolo Quezon III said over state-run Radyo ng Bayan.

Some 50 Filipino protesters, mostly students, traveled to Pag-asa Island, called Thitu by China, in December last year. They camped out on the island, which is home to a small community under the jurisdiction of Palawan province.

The three-day boat trip to Pagasa Island was dubbed “Kalayaan Atin Ito” or “Freedom Voyage.”

The students’ plan to spend April on the nine other Philippine-occupied islands in the Spratlys has riled China.

A United Nations arbitral tribunal based in The Hague has yet to issue a verdict on the Philippines’ protest against China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea.