Dela Rosa to China's proposals on sea row: Act on our protest first
By Dhel Nazario
Sen. Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa said on Wednesday, March 13 that before the Philippines acts on China’s proposals on resolving the disputes in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), it should act on the country's diplomatic protests first.
"Nagrereklamo sila na hindi tinatanggap natin yung mga proposal nila. Eh bago namin tanggapin yung mga proposal ninyo (They are complaining that we are not ignoring their proposals. Before we accept your proposal), you also act on our protest," Dela Rosa told reporters.
"We have thousands or hundreds of protest na nila-lodge against sa kanila, di ba? Gusto nila na aksyunan yung mga gusto nila, aksyunan rin lang yung gusto natin (We have thousands or hundreds of protests lodged against them, right? They want us to act on what they want, they should act on what we want)," he added.
China recently claimed that its proposals "were met with inaction" which the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) denied.
The agency said instead that such proposals were denied because they were “contrary to our national interests.”
In a statement, the DFA clarified that it had submitted counter-proposals, which were products of “extensive internal consultations,” but these were not considered by Beijing.
"Hindi naman one-way yung relationship natin dapat," Dela Rosa said.
Reacting as well to the sighting of 50 Chinese ships, fishing boats in WPS, Dela Rosa said that the country is "running out of options on how to deal with it."
"Ang magandang development ngayon (The good development now) is the international media is covering the occurrences in the West Philippine Sea," he added.