Vice President Leni Robredo said it was important to talk about the West Philippine Sea issue so the public can understand it more because it was one topic that is "close to the gut."

In an interview with "Viewpoint" over the Now You Know Facebook page, Robredo said the West Philippine Sea issue was one of the big issues that do not get discussed much like sovereignty, territorial dispute, and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

"Kailangan mainitindihan na itong issue na ito affects our people personally. Malapit sa sikmura yung issue (The people should understand that this issue affects our people personally. This is close to the gut)," she said.

"Dapat maintindihan na may mga buhay na naaapektuhan (We should understand that there are lives that will be affected) if we don't act on the encroachment-- if we don't fight for our rights... Marami tayong mga mangingisda na apektado (Many of our fishermen are affected)," she added.

However, early this week, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo expressed doubt that people will consider the issue of the West Philippine Sea in choosing their next leader during the 2022 national elections.

He even claimed that he saw a survey that showed only two percent of Filipinos were interested in the topic.

"Corruption is number one, tapos environment, tapos human rights (next is environment and followed by human rights)," he said.

"Tinignan ko yung West Philippine Sea, two percent lang, eh. Hindi interesado yung mga sinurvey. Kasi kumbaga abstract yun, eh (I looked at West Philippine Sea, it only got two percent. The respondents of the survey were not interested because it is abstract)," he added.

Meanwhile, Robredo, during the online interview, reiterated that the country should have one clear position on the West Philippine Sea.

"Our position must be clear and our voice should be strong in order to protect our rights in the West Philippine Sea," she said.

"Totoo naman mas maliit tayo sa (It's true that the Philippines is smaller compared to) China but we have the Arbitral win and we should be taking advantage of it in order to foster alliances with many countries that recognize that win," she added.

On Monday, May 24, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said President Duterte's approach on the issue of the West Philippine Sea has been working since no part of the country's territory was taken by China since he took office.

"The President po is the lone architect of foreign policy. Hindi po totoo na hindi gumagana ang ating bilateral talks to the West Philippine Sea (It's not true that our bilateral talks about the West Philippine Sea are not working)," he said.

"Matapos po ang halos limang taon ng termino ng Presidente, wala po tayong nawalang teritoryo sa China, wala po tayong hidwaan sa China (In the past five year's of the President's term, we didn't lose part of our territory to China nor we had a conflict with China)," he added.