THE Department of Foreign Affairs on Thursday filed a fresh diplomatic protest over the continued presence of 287 Chinese maritime militia vessels anchored in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
“@DFAPHL fire diplomatic protest,” tweeted Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., who had earlier promised to file a new protest for every day that Beijing does not pull out its boats from the WPS.
At the same time, Locsin castigated the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) for issuing a press release on the Chinese vessels without informing the DFA first that it had spotted nearly 300 boats anew, days after authorities had reported the numbers whittled down to just nine at one point.
He explained his irritation over this breach of protocol in an earlier tweet: “When press-released first, it states the fact of alien presence in Philippine territory construable as possession—once again—until a diplomatic protest is filed. If the only news is diplomatic protest over alien presence you kill 2 birds with 1 stone: possession & claim of right.”
He lamented that this habit of hitching on the bandwagon of Chinese protests is a disease that many in the Philippines have acquired.
“Maybe these idiots will have learned the protocol next time. I took this up with the President in Davao. We have a disease: everybody and his uncle wants to be a hero fighting China from the anonymity of a task force,” Manila’s highest envoy tweeted.
The NTF-WPS reported on Wednesday that at least 287 China vessels were spotted in the West Philippines Sea based on a maritime patrol conducted last May 4.
The Philippines has filed numerous diplomatic protests—at least 83 so far under the Duterte administration—over the lingering presence of Chinese vessels in the area, most notably in the vicinity of Julian Felipe Reef, where a little over 200 were spotted in early March.
However, the blue-hulled vessels, which are the mark of People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM), have remained within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), claiming they are also within the sovereign territory of Nansha Islands.
Meanwhile, Locsin appeared to have reached a modus vivendi with Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr., following their brief spat over who has the authority to speak on foreign policy matters. Locsin called out Roque after the latter said in a press briefing that Julian Felipe Reef is outside the Philippine EEZ, and that only the critics of Duterte had blown up the issue of the hundreds of boats at the reef.
Locsin told Roque on Wednesday to leave the foreign policy issues to him and the DFA.
“Leave Harry alone, at least he can give as good as he takes; I like fighters,” Locsin tweeted on Thursday, after Roque was criticized as being haughty when speaking to the media during Palace press briefings.
“Provided he continues to torment the media. But mine is the last word because I speak for the President,” Locsin said.
Image courtesy of Philippine Coast Guard via AP
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