Locsin: PH to appeal to IMO over Recto Bank incident

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. (File photo by BEN STANSALL / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said he had ordered the Philippine Embassy in London to appeal to London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO) on the hit-and-run incident at Recto (Reed) Bank in the West Philippine Sea.

“China is free to do the same. We press on with our version. I authorized London PE to appeal to IMO in London,” Locsin said in a tweet on Saturday.

Was in Geneva; now at UN. Proper official response to Chinese version—whether it changes or changes back or whatever—is simply: "NOTED". Kiko was on to something. China is free to do the same. We press on with our version. I authorized London PE to appeal to IMO in London.

— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) June 15, 2019

The diplomat was referring to the June 9 incident when a Chinese fishing vessel hit and abandoned a Philippine fishing boat at Recto Bank.

Locsin also issued his “proper and official response” on the Chinese version of the hit-and-run incident:

“Was in Geneva; now at UN. Proper official response to Chinese version — whether it changes or changes back or whatever — is simply: ‘NOTED.’ Kiko was on to something,” he said.

“Kiko” here refers to Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, who tagged the Chinese version of the incident “as fake as its territorial claims.”

Locsin’s latest tweet was different from his earlier statement that “China can say anything it wants on the issue.”

READ: Locsin: It’s a free world, China can say anything it wants

Locsin also posted the statement of the Department of Foreign Affairs to the IMO calling on the member states of United Nations and the IMO to “protect life at sea in cases of maritime distress.”

Our statement at the International Maritime Organization 14 June 2019. pic.twitter.com/qf59j1Coov

— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) June 15, 2019

(Editor: Alexander T. Magno)