Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (Facebook)

Respect President Marcos' declaration on the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez issued this statement to China following the Filipino leader's rousing declaration in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) that the West Philippine Sea (WPS) belongs to--where else? The Philippines.

“China should accept and respect the President’s unequivocal statement: that the [WPS] is ours and will remain ours,” he said.

Rodriguez, chairman of the House Committtee on Constitutional Amendments, also lauded Marcos statement that the Philippines can neither yield nor waver on the WPS.

The veteran lawmaker has been a frequent and consistent critic of Beijing’s intrusion and aggressive activities in waters and islands inside the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), including the WPS.

“We are entitled to our EEZ under international law. The President is asserting our rights over areas that are legally ours. We are claiming what the law entitles us, no more no less. China can claim what rightfully belongs to it, and we will respect that,” he said.

Rodriguez accused China of “overextending its territorial claim to include waters, islands and resources that are very, very far from its own EEZ".

“Ayungin Shoal off Palawan in the south is thousands of kilometers from China. Scarborough Shoal, or Bajo de Masinloc to Filipino fishermen, is near Zambales and Pangasinan in the north, and it is hundreds of kilometers from China,” he said.

“How can Beijing legally justify its claim over these shoals and waters that are inside the EEZ of our country? It’s time for Beijing to listen to the President and respect what he says in the interest of peace, stability and harmony,” he stressed.