It is China, not the Philippines, that is intruding in Philippine waters, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said, asserting that the Navy frigate BRP Conrado Yap was operating in Bajo de Masinloc, part of the country's territory.
The DFA made the statement on Thursday, Nov. 2, stressing that BRP Conrado Yap was doing legitimate maritime operations within Philippine waters and that the country has no obligation to seek approval from another country in doing so.
"The Philippines' conduct of maritime patrols in the waters around Bajo de Masinloc is a legitimate and routine act of a sovereign country in its territory and territorial sea (that) is part of the Philippines' administrative responsibility," the DFA said.
"There is no obligation for the Philippines as the sovereign state to seek the approval of another when navigating its own territorial sea," it stressed.
The DFA then slammed China, saying it is the one intruding in the Philippine waters and its "apparent exercise of maritime law enforcement powers" such as "interference with Philippine vessels" and "harassment of Filipino fishermen" are violations of international law.
"It is China that is intruding into Philippine waters," the DFA said.
"Chinese authorities are reminded that its apparent exercise of maritime law enforcement powers, interference with Philippine vessels, harassment and intimidation of Filipino fisherfolk, or any other activity that infringes upon the Philippines' sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction in Bajo de Masinloc and the West Philippine Sea are violations of international law, particularly UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and the Arbitral Award," it added.
The DFA also said that the statement of the Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, alleging the BRP Conrado Yap intruded in Bajo de Masinloc "has no legal basis and only serves to raise tensions in the West Philippine Sea."
"The Philippines' conduct of maritime patrols in the waters around Bajo de Masinloc is a legitimate and routine act of a sovereign country in its territory and territorial sea and is part of the Philippines' administrative responsibility," it said.
"There is no obligation for the Philippines as the sovereign state to seek the approval of another when navigating its own territorial sea," it stressed.
Bajo de Masinloc, the DFA said, is an integral part of the Philippine territory over which the Philippines has sovereignty and jurisdiction.
The 2016 Arbitral Award upheld its status as a high-tide feature that has no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf of its own as opposed to an island as defined under Article 121(3) of the UNCLOS, it added.
"Beyond the territorial sea of Bajo de Masinloc is the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf generated from the main Philippine archipelago, over which the Philippines exercises sovereign rights and jurisdiction," the Foreign Affairs department said.
"The 2016 Arbitral Award categorically declared that China's claims to historic rights, or other rights or jurisdiction, over the maritime areas in the South China Sea within the so-called "nine- dash line" are contrary to UNCLOS," it added.
Through the statement, the Philippines has once again demanded that Chinese vessels in Bajo de Masinloc leave the area immediately.
The DFA said it will continue to be vigilant in protecting the country's sovereignty and safeguarding the rights provided for under UNCLOS.
The BRP Conrado Yap was shadowed by a Chinese vessel while conducting routine patrol operation in Bajo de Masinloc.
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