NSC bares options vs increasing China’s aggressive actions in WPS

The Philippines has a lot of options to respond to the increasingly aggressive actions of China in the West Philippine Sea, which include the filing of a case in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea or ITLOS in response to the latest collisions of Manila and Beijing vessels in the Ayungin Shoal.

This was bared in a radio interview by National Security Council spokesperson, Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya, on Tuesday.

Malaya said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the Philippine Coast Guard to complete the maritime investigation on the separate collisions concerning China Coast Guard vessels and Armed Forces of the Philippines-contracted boat for the rotation and re-provisioning or RoRe mission in the area.

"Kasi may mga patudsada rin ang China sa atin at kailangan sagutin natin 'yan with proofs and evidences and then magmi-meeting po 'yung security cluster para mapag-usapan yung resolute response sa maging action ng China sa pinakahuling RoRe mission," he told the SuperRadyo DzBB.

Malaya, also the spokesperson of the National Task Force on the West Philippines Sea, noted that the government and security sector are exploring all options to respond to China's aggression towards WPS.

But, he did not divulge the country's step-by-step actions.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that now because we cannot telegraph our moves to China. China doesn't expose their plans either, so we can't let them know what we intend to do," he said.

Malaya said the results of the maritime investigation will be presented to Marcos and will be followed by discussions of the administration's concerned cabinet members on the possible response to the matter.

"There a lot of options that are [placed] in the table right now, we can file a case in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea or ITLOS," he stressed.

Malaya emphasized that the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Coast Guard "made it clear" that China had violated maritime rules and collision regulations during the Ayungin incident.

"We have a lot of recourse that we can do because of this unprecedented event that happened, but it would be up to the President and the concerned Cabinet members what will be our next move," he added.

"There's no decision on that so far. It will be decided by the Cabinet cluster and by the President himself. Let's just wait for their responses. So we'll have to wait and see what the Cabinet says."

Malaya emphasized the entire government and the security cluster are "taking this issue very seriously," thus, the President called for a conference meeting to discuss the matter thoroughly.

"Clearly, the Chinese side did their actions with clear intent to prevent and block our ship which led to the collision so we are gathering all the evidence to voice our position about what happened on Sunday," he said.

Malaya said the government "must take the long view and be very patient" like how China effectively calculated its long-term responses to its territorial claims.

Meanwhile, the NSC official underscored that the results of the maritime investigation will be presented to Marcos and will be followed by discussions of the administration's concerned cabinet members on the possible response to the matter.

"There a lot of options that are [placed] in the table right now, we can file a case in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea or ITLOS," he stressed.

Malaya emphasized that the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Coast Guard "made it clear" that China had violated maritime rules and collision regulations during the Ayungin incident.

"We have a lot of recourse that we can do because of this unprecedented event that happened, but it would be up to the President and the concerned Cabinet members what will be our next move," he added.

"There's no decision on that so far. It will be decided by the Cabinet cluster and by the President himself. Let's just wait for their responses. So we'll have to wait and see what the Cabinet says."

Malaya emphasized the entire government and the security cluster are "taking this issue very seriously," thus, the President called for a conference meeting to discuss the matter thoroughly.

"Clearly, the Chinese side did their actions with clear intent to prevent and block our ship which led to the collision so we are gathering all the evidence to voice our position about what happened on Sunday," he said.

Malaya said the government "must take the long view and be very patient" like how China effectively calculated its long-term responses to its territorial claims.