The Philippine government can remove the floating barriers that were put up by the Chinese coast guard in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and have been preventing Filipino fishing vessels in the enclosed areas, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla said on Monday, Sept. 25.
“It’s within our exclusive economic zone then we will just declare it to be such and that it’s a violation of our right to exclusive economic zone and we can remove this thing,” Remulla said.
But Remulla was quick to stress that his stand is his personal view. "We have to agree within the executive branch on how to take this legally."
“I am giving a legal point of view that this maybe a violation of our rights under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” he said.
Thus, he said, he will meet with officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to discuss the matter.
“I have asked Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic F. Clavano IV to coordinate a meeting within in this week so that I can meet the DFA, the Coast Guard and the Solicitor General about these cases in the West Philippine Sea,” he also said.
"We will not make it (the removal of the floating barriers) a military undertaking," he stressed.
He said the removal can be done by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and attached agency of the Department of Transportation (DOTr). "It will be a civilian undertaking under the Coast Guard," he also said.
He stressed that the floating barriers are “interfering with something that is granted to us in accordance with the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea.”
“If it is an exclusive economic zone then that is an interference in our activities,” he added.