Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said he will file a draft resolution condemning China’s incursion into Philippine territory and its harassment of Philippine Coast Guard personnel and Filipino fishermen.
The document will no longer limit the call only to asking the government to bring its case to the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
The original resolution proposed by Senator Risa Hontiveros had called on the Department of Foreign Affairs to bring the issue to the UNGA for a vote, but some senators had questioned the wisdom of this move, saying it could weaken the Philippine position if the vote goes the wrong way.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., reacting to the Hontiveros resolution, also said that it is the executive branch, not the legislature, that sets foreign policy.
Zubiri said the gist of the resolution is a sense of the Senate to condemn Chinese intrusion into the West Philippine Sea.
He said they will show the dates when the Chinese ships entered the country and harassed Philippine Coast Guard and Navy personnel and fishermen.
“We are urging the government to do something. They should act,” Zubiri said.
“We can put in the resolution: Number 1, diplomatic protest. Although we have seen in the past that we have filed over a hundred diplomatic protests yet China disregards all these. So that’s number 1 – to continue the diplomatic protests and continue bilateral discussions with China.”
“Number 2, to file the appeal to the General Assembly. The executive can also act on that. That will be one of the options.”
“We will condemn the incursions and give more options to the government. That is the sense of the Senate,” Zubiri added.
He said taking the issue to the UNGA is still an option to emphasizethat China is not following the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, of which it is a signatory.
The resolution will also call on the national government to continue delivering modern equipment to the Navy and the Coast Guard.
Zubiri said that ultimately, it is the President who will decide on how to handle the issue.
Given the misgivings over the original draft by Hontiveros, Zubiri has been saying that the resolution can still be changed.
Last week, he said he is not sure if the original wording of theSenate Resolution 659 on UNGA authored and sponsored by Hontiveros will retain the original wording.
“That remains to be seen. We will meet with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Task Force on the West Philippine Sea (WPS), and the National Intelligence Coordinating Authority (NICA) to hear their concerns,” he said.
