Senators on Thursday urged the country’s leaders to discuss, unify and come up with a strong stand on the issues hounding the West Philippine Sea to counter the confusing statements the public is hearing from Malacanang.
Senator Grace Poe said convening the National Security Council (NSC) to discuss the Philippine’s stand on the West Philippine Sea would be a timely intervention in the face of the conflicting declarations coming from President Duterte and some government officials.
“It is high time that the whole-of-government comes up with a clear and united stand on the West Philippine Sea issue. The convening of the NSC as soon as possible would be a timely intervention,” Poe said when sought to comment on former Senator Rodolfo Biazon’s call.
“We cannot be divided as a nation when we talk about our sovereignty. Protecting territorial integrity is so vital to a country’s survival that we must not confuse it with friendship or utang na loob (indebtedness),” Poe stressed.
The government, she said, should take into account that the country’s resources and future are at stake.
“This is the country’s resource we are talking about. There shouldn’t be any debate as to whether we should protect it or not. There is only one constitutional answer—we should. The only thing left for us to discuss now is how,” she stressed.
Senator Risa Hontiveros lamented that even President Duterte’s own closest people are quarreling among themselves about who will articulate the Philippine’s own foreign policy in light of the Chief Executive’s repeated avowals of friendship with China and disregarding the 2016 arbitral ruling at The Hague.
“I have never seen before a presidential legal counsel saying, oops hey I should also be a spokesperson on this issue. Secretary (Teddy) Locsin has already told Secretary (Harry) Roque that he should be the only one speaking about this, and in the end, after all, the President is the chief architect of the country’s foreign policy, and his alter egos can and should only say no more or less what his own policy is, as he has articulated it,” Hontiveros said in an interview on ANC.
“So again, we ultimately look to the President, to take the proper stand vis-a-vis China, for Philippine interest in the West Philippine Sea,” she added.
Hontiveros said she agrees that Malacañang’s pronouncement on the West Philippine Sea issue is “really a mess” and it should be fixed quickly as soon as possible.
“Rather than saying that The Hague ruling should be thrown in the trash, the President’s silence and his un-Filipino statements are the ones that should go to the waste bin,” she stressed.