Philippines
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Sotto seeks swift approval of PH equivalent of China's nine-dash-line on West PH Sea
Sotto seeks swift approval of PH equivalent of China's nine-dash-line on West PH Sea
Senate President. Vicente C. Sotto on Wednesday, Nov, 24 filed a Maritime Zone bill to indicate its ownership of the West Philippine Sea (WPS), a small portion of the South China Sea (SCS).
Sotto expressed hopes that the Senate and the House of Representatives would be able to pass the measure in early January before the start of the campaign season leading to May 2022 national elections.
He said Partido Reporma and standard-bearer Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, chairman of the Senate National Defense and Security committee, is also co-author of his bill.
In a victory for the Philippines, the United Nations Arbitral Court rejected China’s nine-dash-line, historic ownership of the vast South China Sea (SCS) in 2016.
The Senate chief said could hopes that President Duterte would certify the bill as urgent so that both Congress houses to act on the measure with dispatch as they are also busy with the passage of the proposed 2022 P5 trillion national budget bill before they go on a Christmas break.
During a TV interview, Sotto said he would communicate with Speaker Lord Allan Velasco on the bill which was also sponsored by a House member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC). Sotto is the chairman.
Sotto said he would talk to Senators Lacson and Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, that their committees take up his bill. ]
He said his bill is important in the face of increased militarization of China over the SCS,
Sotto, likewise, echoed Lacson’s ‘’balance of power’’ position in the SCS with the Philippines likely to review the 70-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT).
He said his measure emphasizes the country’s protection of its right and sovereignty of these maritime areas.
Sotto said he thinks the ‘’bullying’’ tactics of China’s Coast Guard is known at the upper levels of China’s leadership.
He said his Maritime Zone Act is equivalent to China’s nine-dash-line policy.
Although Chinese Premier Xi Jinping had stated that his country does bully its neighbors, still Chinese Coast Guard vessels monitored and took photos of the Philippine resupply ships that brought fresh supplies to soldiers manning the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal in the WPS.
Two resupply boats were earlier water-cannoned by Chinese Coast Guard boats.
The WPS is supposedly rich in gas and oil, two important substances to keep the maws of China’s vast manufacturing sector humming.
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