Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday, July 28 expressed his belief resolving the country’s issues with China on the West Philippine Sea can be done through a matured approach and not through an international assembly that could not enforce a ruling that favored the Philippine government.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano (Senate PRIB photo)
While he believes that the Senate must continue the discussion on the West Philippine Sea, Cayetano said maturity is needed not only in how the government will approach the problem “but also in how we contextualize our approach and strategy.”
“In this regard, I believe not bringing this matter to the UN General Assembly is not a sign of weakness but a mark of maturity,” Cayetano said in a statement.
The former foreign affairs secretary also said rejected claims the Philippine government has no other choice, nor that the government is not doing anything to resolve its conflict with China, which has been claiming maritime territories within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
“In fact, the UNGA option has been discussed many times in the past, and many experts have said that it will not help the Philippines' cause and might even weaken our position,” he said.
“We are already on very firm ground based on International Law from the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and The Hague arbitration award,” he added.
“If we bring this matter before the UNGA, anything less than a unanimous vote will only weaken our position and clutter the issues. The UNGA is not a venue of enforcement,” Cayetano pointed out.
“The Philippine government’s problem has never been who is ‘right’, rather it is who has the ‘might’ to enforce ‘the right’,” he emphasized.
Cayetano also said that in fixing issues in the WPS and the Philippine’s relationship with China, the government needs to have an aggressive and sincere effort to have direct negotiations as well as confidence-building measures with the superpower.
“This is in order to jumpstart a joint approach to the West Philippines Sea dilemma that will see peace and stability in the short term as we work towards an acceptable solution in the long term,” he said.
“Both countries have a large stake in maintaining stability in the region. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with every country in the whole ASEAN scrambling to get back on its economic feet as soon as possible, peace, order, and stability are essential for steady progress and development,” the lawmaker said.
“We cannot be ignorant of geopolitics. We must be conscious of, and sensitive to the dynamics of rival superpowers, yet be assertive that superpowers should not force upon us their way of doing things in the region. A rule based approach that is fair to all is what we should insist on,” he stressed.
In an interview with reporters during his state visit in Malaysia, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said he doesn't see how Sen. Risa Hontiveros' Senate Resolution 659, as regards the 2016 The Hague ruling will translate into action before the United Nations.
Marcos made the remark a day after Hontiveros sponsored the resolution on the Senate floor, urging the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to call out China’s aggression before the UN General Assembly.
A number of senators including Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri and Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, and Sen. Raffy Tulfo backed the resolution.
“Generally speaking, the foreign policy is not set by the legislation. Generally speaking, foreign policy is up to the Executive,” Marcos said in an interview.
“So, I mean of course the senator is free to file the resolution she wants but I do not know how that will translate into any action that will reach the UNGA,” the President also said.
Sought for comment, Hontiveros defended the resolution pointing out that measure primarily recognizes the role of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in the West Philippine issue.
"There have been resolutions in the past expressing the sense of the Senate that the Executive take action on certain issues. I’m sure, as a former senator, he (Marcos) knows this," Hontiveros said in a statement.
"In my sponsorship speech, I also explicitly recognized the primary role our men and women in the DFA will play in pursuing this course of action," she stressed.
Hontiveros reiterated that the resolution the Senate would be crafting is just a simple declaration condemning China's aggression in the West Philippine Sea and prodding the DFA to raise the issue before the UNGA.
"Filipinos want government action against China’s bullying. Pakinggan natin ang sambayanan (Let's heed the people)," she said.