SENATORS clashed on Wednesday over a proposed resolution prodding the Executive to raise before the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) the “continued harassment” by Chinese forces of Philippine security units and fishermen in the West Philippine Sea, amid concern by one senator that doing so, without prior discussions with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), might backfire.
After long floor debates between the resolution proponent, Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros—backed by coauthor, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri— and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, the senators agreed to Cayetano’s request to call a closed-door caucus on Monday (July 31) to discuss strategies.
Senators will invite DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo, the National Intelligence Coordination Agency (Nica), and the Task Force on the West Philippine Sea for the closed-door briefing before their caucus.
Besides Zubiri, Defense Committee chair Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. Raffy Tulfo are coauthors of the Hontiveros resolution.
Cayetano explained he simply wanted his peers to draw from his experience in dealing with China when he was DFA secretary in the first half of the Duterte administration.
Cayetano warned that in unilaterally adopting a resolution without ensuring it aligned smoothly with the Executive – given that the President is architect of foreign policy under the Constitution – senators might unwittingly weaken the country’s position despite having won the 2016 arbitral ruling in The Hague.
Zubiri said the intent of the resolution was primarily to express “the outrage” over Beijing’s continued bullying in waters covered by the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ), because from all indications, its naval forces were poised to take over as much of the Philippine-claimed islands and maritime features as they can.
Cayetano, in turn, said that when they tackle the matter behind closed doors on Monday, it must be clear that, “We agree on the outrage, but we don’t [necessarily] agree on [raising it with] the UNGA” as the sole or best strategy to stop China in its tracks.
Hontiveros had insisted that the UNGA card was logical, since recent months have seen a “growing number” of countries supporting the call to enforce the UN arbitral ruling that invalidated China’s nine-dash-line claim in the South China Sea. This was seen in last week’s seventh anniversary of the ruling at the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda agreed with Cayetano “that there are indeed various strategies” in securing enforcement of the ruling, but stressed the urgent need for the Philippine government to mount an intensive education-information-communication campaigns on the arbitral ruling, such as teaching it in all schools’ history courses.
Image credits: Philippine Coast Guard via AP