ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro. (FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — While strongly condemning the Chinese Coast Guard’s laser attack, a Makabayan solon on Monday said the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. should not use the incident as a justification for more Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) sites as well as additional visiting forces agreement (VFA) for Japan.
House Deputy Minority leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro stressed that the said agreements would just further escalate the tension within the contested waters.
Castro made the reaction after a Chinese coast guard ship illuminated a green light twice toward the Philippine Coast Guard vessel, causing temporary blindness to crew members on duty.
The PCG crew was supporting a rotation and resupply mission of the Philippine Navy in Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea where the country maintains its presence through the decrepit BRP Sierra Madre.
READ: China harasses Philippine Coast Guard vessel with laser
“This is highly condemnable but it should not be used by Malacanang and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to push for more military agreements with the US and Japan,” Castro said in a statement.
“This incident should not be used as a further justification for increasing the agreed areas under the Edca with the US and the proposed VFA with Japan. Instead of trying to de-escalate the tension in the West Philippine Sea and demilitarize the area, the Marcos administration, with the US and Japan is further hardening it, that the WPS may reach a flashpoint quickly,” she further said.
“If this happens then it is countrymen as well as our resources that will bear the brunt of these actions.”
As an alternative, the government should pursue joint patrols with the coast guards of other claimants in the South China Sea like Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Taiwan.
“It would be best if our country increases our coast guard patrols as well as coordinate and launch joint patrols with the coast guards of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Taiwan,” she said.
Castro suggested that, instead of heightening the tension in the West Philippine Sea, deescalation and demilitarization may be an effective means of cooperating with Asean countries on an equal footing with the Philippines, while also safeguarding its territory.
“We need to de-escalate the tension and demilitarize the West Philippine Sea instead of further heightening it. Joint patrols and international pressure are the peaceful yet assertive ways to defend our territory, military agreements will just exacerbate the current situation,” she said.
The Philippines have agreed to four new additional Edca sites in the country.
Military officials have identified Zambales, Cagayan, Isabela, and Palawan as possible sites. The sites are notable since it faces Taiwan (Zambales, Cagayan, and Isabela) and the South China Sea (Palawan).
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea.
But in 2016, the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague invalidated China’s claim to almost the entire South China Sea.
The tribunal ruled that China’s claim had no basis in international law and violated the Philippines’ sovereign right to fish and explore resources in the West Philippine Sea, the waters within the country’s 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea.
Under the administration of the late President Benigno Aquino III in 2013, the Philippines challenged China’s Hague court claim that it owned more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, which included waters in the EEZ of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.