Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri said the Senate will come up with a "strongly-worded" resolution that would urge President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s administration to bring the West Philippine Sea issue to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

                 Senate President Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri (Senate PRIB Photo)

Zubiri made the assurance on Tuesday, July 18 following reports of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“The Senate is an independent body. The Senate has always been the last bastion of democracy,” Zubiri said in a press conference at the Senate.

“So I think it’s important that we maintain independence from the Executive. So if the Executive wants to remain diplomatic about it, we don't have to be held by that diplomacy,” the Senate chief also said.

While he understands the need for the Executive branch to pursue a diplomatic approach on the WPS issue, the Senate would not be held back on expressing the true sentiments of the Filipino people.

“I know the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) must be diplomatic, but the Senate doesn’t have to be diplomatic. The Senate is an expression of each and everyone of your sentiments,” he pointed out.

“We can express our sentiments about it. We don’t have to be held back by that diplomacy and we can express our sentiments as we should do in this particular issue,” he added, referring to Sen. Risa Hontiveros' Senate Resolution No. 659.

“It's a nationalist issue. It's an issue of our territory. Ayoko po magising tayo na wala na ang Palawan sa atin, di ba (I don't want us to wake up one day and Palawan is no longer ours, right)? That would be a failure on our part as a society and as a people and this generation if we allow that to happen,” Zubiri reiterated.

Asked to weigh in on Duterte and Xi’s meeting, the Senate leader refused to comment on the development.

“I don't want to comment because I don't know the circumstances of that meeting and that might have been a private visit. So I don’t want to comment on that particular issue,” he said.

“Basta ang importante coming from the week after the SONA (State of the Nation Address), we will pass a strongly-worded resolution of our disgust, of our frustration, of our anger as shown by the Pulse Asia and all other surveys, about all the Filipino people on the repeated incursion of our exclusive economic zone (EEZ),” he stressed.

“I know meron pong mga senador, makikita naman po natin na hindi pabor dito sa position na ito (I know that there are some senators who are not in favor of this position). But I would say that 95 percent of the senators are in unison pagdating po sa condemnation nitong pagpasok at tinatawag ko nga na (when I comes to the condemnation on the repeated incursions and what I see as a) creeping invasion of our nation,” he reiterated.

Zubiri said it is also imperative for the Philippines to bring back to the UN the 2016 arbitral ruling that established that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights over the country’s resources, particularly those within its continental shelf and EEZ.

“They came out with an arbitral ruling and within the seven years, that arbitral ruling has not been followed, or respected,” Zubiri lamented.

“And we need to show what has transpired since then, the repeated incursions, reclamations in these areas, including the reclamation in the areas considered international waters where freedom of navigation under the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas), should be respected,” he pointed out.

At the same time, Zubiri rejected insinuations that the Marcos administration lacks a firm policy on the WPS issue.

“He is familiar with the issue, as a matter of fact, he called for the Chinese ambassador to Malacañang many times to explain what is going on,” he said.

Furthermore, Zubiri said he can see the President’s commitment to guarding the country’s territorial integrity, seeing how the government continues to deploy more Navy and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessels in the area to protect the country’s assets, sea lanes and Filipino fishermen from harassment.

“So that means they are in unison with what the administration is taking, which is basically to protect our assets, protect our sealanes, our fishermen from the harassment of our Chinese neighbors. If they were taking the opposite direction, but no, they were even sending more ships and increasing the military exercises between Filipino and American troops,” he pointed out.