President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said a note verbale will be sent to China following a confrontation between the Chinese Coast Guard and Philippine Navy over a rocket debris near Pag-asa Island.
"Yes, I think that that’s what we need to do," Marcos said in a media interview on the sidelines of the 49th founding anniversary of Career Executive Service Board (CESB).
The President said it must be done because the reports coming from both sides do not match.
According to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Western Command, an unidentified floating object was spotted "drifting towards Pagasa Island Cay 1 sandbar due to strong waves and currents."
It was a metallic debris that was similar to a Chinese rocket debris found in Buswanga, Palawan last Nov. 7.
The object was retrieved by the Filipino soldiers. However, the Chinese Coast Guard "forcefully retrieved" it from them, AFP said.
China, on the other hand, denied the report, saying China's coast guard took the object after a "friendly consultation."
"indi nagtugma yung report ng Philippine Navy at saka yung report na galing sa China (The reports from the Philippine Navy and China do to match) because the word forcibly was used in the Navy – in the Philippine Navy report. And that was not the characterization in the Chinese navy report or the report coming from China," Marcos said.
The chief executive said he wants to resolve the discrepancies in the reports from both sides but affirmed that he believes in his Navy.
"So we have to resolve this issue. Of course, I am – I have complete trust in our Navy and if this is what they say happened, I can only believe that that is what happened," he said.
"So we have now asked the Chinese, why is it that their account is so different and it’s much more benign – shall we use that word – than the.. Because the forcibly na nga was used in the – at least in the initial reports of the Philippine Navy," he added.
Marcos also said that this kind of incident will be among the matters he will raise during his visit to China early next year so that the same incident will not happen again and to avoid misunderstanding in the region.
"These are the things that we need to work out because with the way that the region, our region, Asia-Pacific is heating up, baka may magkamali lang, may mistake, may misunderstanding then lalaki yung sunog (if something goes wrong, a mistake, a misunderstanding, the fire would get bigger)," he pointed out.