Four presidential bets present plan to address West Philippine Sea issue
By Robina Asido
Four presidential candidates in the May national elections presented their plans to address the territorial issue with China in the West Philippine Sea in a television interview on Saturday.
The survey frontrunner, former Senator Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr did not join.
During the interview, Vice President Leni Robredo expressed her plan to use the 2016 arbitral ruling in favor of Philippine claims against China's nine-dash claim in the South China Sea as ''leverage'' to form a coalition with other countries.
"Our court victory (in The Hague in 2016) should be our leverage. We should use this as a leverage in forming a coalition of nations. A lot of nations have expressed support to us because of our court victory," she said.
"We have to form a coalition of nations so we can jointly stop China’s militarization of the West Philippine Sea. We have a weapon: our weapon is our victory, and we will use our court victory to convince other nations to join us in our fight to stop aggression in our territory," she said.
Despite the territorial dispute with China, Robredo expressed support for joint exploration in the West Philippine Sea but she noted the need for the Chinese to respect the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
"I support joint exploration with China on marine resources but the arbitral tribunal ruling should be respected," she said.
On the other hand, Senator Panfilo Lacson said the 2016 Arbitral Ruling is “unimplementable” and emphasized the need for the Philippines to strengthen its alliance with other states to maintain balance in the West Philippine Sea,
"We need to seek and strengthen alliances with the military-strong countries like the United States, European Union countries, Japan, Australia, and many more. We need a balance of power in the West Philippine Sea," he said.
"The foreign policy should be anchored on our national interest. We should capitalize on the national interest of different countries as we need freedom of navigation. Ten to 12 percent of international trade passes (through the WPS). So we need to build our strength from there because we cannot face China alone," he added.
However, Manila Mayor Francisco ''Isko Moreno'' Domagoso said food security should be attained as he vows to make sure Filipino fishermen will be able to freely fish within the country's territorial waters.
"Our fishermen, I will make sure that they will be able to fish there," he said.
"In a civilized world, in a civilized time we are guided by law and order. The Hague (ruling) is in our favor, they should recognize that. Despite that, they do not recognize it (so) I'll make sure food security (is met)," he added.
Moreno said he will make sure the military is present in the West Philippine Sea to make sure other nations will not be able to expand their claim.
"I will not let them expand the areas they have claimed and we will take back what they got," he said.
"I will make sure that there is a presence of our Armed Forces in that archipelagic area," he added.
While he stressed the need to assert the country's territorial rights in the region, Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao said the issue "cannot be resolved because of lack of discussions".
"The problem needs to be discussed further because a problem will not be resolved just by having one or two discussions," he said.
"The issue in the West Philippine Sea needs more dialogue. This has been a problem ever since and it cannot be resolved because of lack of discussions," he added. DMS
