Sen. Risa Hontiveros answers queries from PDI officers and staff during a round table interview at PDI office, March 3, 2020.
INQUIRER file photo / JOAN BONDOC
MANILA, Philippines—Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros wants the Philippines to “upgrade” its security agreements with other nations in the face of China’s display of continued aggressions.
She said the Department of Foreign Affairs should broker the updated agreements with different countries which could help defend the Philippines from China.
“We have to exhaust all possible ways to defend the Philippines from China’s shameless actions. A security agreement can serve as a defensive framework that would provide for joint patrols and training of our troops so we are prepared to work as part of a team should tensions escalate,” Hontiveros said in a statement on Monday.
“Araw-araw na ang pang-haharass at pambubully ng Tsina sa ating mga mangingisda at mga coast guard. We cannot do nothing,” the senator added.
(China has been harassing and bullying our fishermen and our coast guard. We cannot do nothing.)
According to her, the Philippines could not just rely on the Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States to protect the country’s sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) when it can also forge similar agreements with other countries that want to maintain peace and stability in the region.
“Dapat mapalakas na ang ating pag-uugnayan sa mga karatig-bansa na lubos ding maapektuhan kung hindi huminto ang pambabastos ng Tsina,” she said, “China will not stop until we surrender the WPS, so we must also show her that we will never stand down.”
(We should intensify our relations with our neighboring countries which will also be affected if this harassment by China will not stop)
“Sa labang ito, nag-iisa ang Tsina, habang tayo, napakaraming kakampi. Let us maximize the reinforcement of the international community and consolidate all this support once and for all,” Hontiveros further said.
(In this fight, China is alone while we have many allies. Let us maximize the reinforcement of the international community and consolidate all this support once and for all)
Just this month, the Philippines protested the harassment of a Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) ship after it reportedly directed a “military-grade” laser towards a Philippine Coast Guard vessel in Ayungin Shoal in the WPS, causing temporary blindness to its crew members.
But China denied this, saying the CCG vessel just used “hand-held laser speed detector and hand-held greenlight pointer to measure the distance and speed of the Philippine vessel and signal directions to ensure navigation safety.”
“We need to highlight the fact that the China Coast Guard ship did not direct lasers at the Philippine crew, and the hand-held equipment does not inflict damage on anything or anyone on the vessel,” the Chinese embassy in Manila earlier quoted Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin in a statement.