“The initiative should come from the President of the Philippines and the Department of Foreign Affairs , not from the opposition.”
Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman gave this advice to Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido Abante when the latter asked Lagman for his ideas on how to solve the country’s problems in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
During the plenary debates on the budget Monday, Sept. 26, Lagman said he was unsatisfied with the DFA's reponses to his interpellation after he asked for a clarification on a statement made by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. Abante was the DFA budget sponsor.
“The position that the Philippines takes is that we have no territorial conflict with China. What we have China claiming territory that belongs to the Philippines,” Marcos said on Saturday, Sept. 24 during his visit to New York.
According to independent minority solon Lagman, there exists a territorial conflict with China as seen in their establishment of military bases and harassment of fisherfolk within Philippine waters.
Abante had this to say to Lagman at the end of the latter's interpellation: “I will not expect him to be satisfied. Yet, if he has any proposal for us to be able to get the WPS, I hope he could be able to tell me about that because I am also very interested."
Lagman, who identifies himself as the “authentic opposition” within the House of Representatives, said that it was not up to him to solve the WPS issue.
“The initiative should come from the President of the Philippines and the Department of Foreign Affairs , not from the opposition,” Lagman retorted.
During the debate, Abante explained that the DFA had performed its mandate in protecting the country’s sovereignty over the WPS by filing diplomatic protests. The DFA has filed 405 diplomatic protests since 2020, the sponsor bared.
“We could file a million diplomatic protests but China will just throw it into the dustbin of Chinese arrogance,” Lagman added.