Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Saturda night, Feb. 26, said passage by Congress of his bill establishing Philippine maritime zones would define the internal waters, the archipelagic waters, the territorial waters, and economic zones of the country.
Sotto, vice presidential candidate and chairman of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), said enactment of his measure into law would clear up the country’s maritime territories as China continues to emphasize its historical claim over the South China Sea through its ‘’nine-dash-line’’ concept.
‘’Kapag diyan pinasok tayo nung kapitbahay natin, papasok ang MDT (When a neighbor enters our territory, the MDT will come in),’’ he added.
‘’Ang kalaban nila si Kano na (They will now face the Americans),’’ Sotto said.
MDT stands for the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty signed in Washington, D.C. on August 30, 1961.
Sotto verbally sparred with Walden Bello, a fellow vice presidential candidate, on the Philippine-China dispute over the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
In July 2016, a United Nations Arbitration Court rejected China’s ‘’historical’’ claim over most parts of the South China Sea.
During a CNN Philippines-sponsored debate among vice presidential candidates Saturday night, Bello quoted Sotto as saying that he is going to "invite" the United States (US) to oppose China through the MDT.
Sotto countered, ‘’I never said 'invite'..I never used that word.’’
‘’You follow the agreement that we have. We have a treaty, we have an agreement, once pinasok tayo ng foreign kahit hindi ng China, kahit sinong foreign may aggression sa atin and if they do that in the maritime zones that I am saying na dapat ating markahan, papasok ang Mutual Defense Treaty, and the US has already said that (Once we are invaded by a foreign , not necessarily China, whoever is the foreign aggressor and if they do that in ‘maritime zones’ that I am saying should be marked, the MDT will come into play and the US has already said that),’’ Sotto stressed.
'’Yun ang batas, yun ang agreement, yun ang treaty (That is the law, that is the agreement...that is the treaty),’’ he added.
When Bello told Sotto that he would be inviting the US, Sotto shot back: ‘’No, no. Ano ang gusto natin pasukin lang tayo ng China, hindi tayo papalag? (So do we want that when China comes in, we will not object?)"
‘’Bubukaka lang tayo? (We will just welcome them openly?),’’ he asked Bello, who is Ka Leody de Guzman's running mate.