蜜桃工作室 PHOTO / NI脩O JESUS ORBETA
Mr. President, you鈥檙e 40 years too late.
Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano on Friday ridiculed President Rodrigo Duterte鈥檚 vow to deploy troops to unoccupied South China Sea islands and reefs claimed by the Philippines, saying nothing was left to grab in those disputed waters.
鈥淭here are no more islands in South China Sea to occupy unless we grab islands from Vietnam and China and run the risk of a shooting war,鈥� said Alejano, who filed last month an impeachment complaint accusing the President of dereliction of duty in refusing to assert the country鈥檚 sovereign rights over Benham Rise and Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal.
鈥淚t seems that the President is unaware of the issues in the West Philippine Sea,鈥� he said in a statement. 鈥淭he President is 40 years late in his appreciation since scrambling for islands to occupy by claimant countries happened in [the] 1970s.鈥�
Even assuming there were still uninhabited islands to occupy, he said, new occupation would constitute a violation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in South China Sea, a pact signed by the Philippines but not by China.
On Thursday, Mr. Duterte ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines to deploy troops to unoccupied islands in the West Philippine Sea, a portion of the South China Sea claimed by the Philippines.
He said he intended to plant a Philippine flag on Pagasa Island, the second-largest island in the Kalayaan group in the Spratlys region occupied by the Philippines.
Military chief Gen. Eduardo A帽o on Friday said he would follow Mr. Duterte鈥檚 order, stressing that a UN-backed arbitral tribunal had already ruled last year in favor of Manila鈥檚 South China Sea claims.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 an order from the President and I intend to carry that out. Those features (in the Spratlys island chain) are ours as per [the] arbitration ruling, so we don鈥檛 see any problem,鈥� A帽o said. 鈥淲e will reinforce our troops and improve the structures and facilities there.鈥�
A帽o declined to identify features or rocks claimed by the Philippines in the Spratlys that had not been occupied by the AFP. But he said the military would have to set up structures on these features.
Alejano said Mr. Duterte鈥檚 rhetoric, which he made during a visit to a military base in Palawan, was a clear indication that his camp recognized the 鈥済ravity鈥� of the impeachment complaint filed by the Magdalo lawmaker.
The lawmaker had earlier alleged that the President betrayed the public trust and violated the 1987 Constitution by refusing to call China out on its incursions in the Philippines, including Benham Rise, an underwater landmass declared by the United Nations in 2012 to be part of the country鈥檚 continental shelf.
Inaction, dereliction
He also took Mr. Duterte to task for public statements indicating 鈥渋naction鈥� and dereliction of his duty to assert the country鈥檚 sovereign and maritime rights, and territorial claims over Benham Rise, Panatag Shoal and the rest of the West Philippine Sea.
鈥淭he last time we heard the President speaking of raising the Philippine flag in a disputed territory, he later on admitted that he was merely joking. Let us try to be more critical on the pronouncements of the President and hold him accountable for it,鈥� Alejano said, noting Mr. Duterte鈥檚 鈥渃ontradictory and conflicting鈥� pronouncements.
Out of around 52 islands and reefs in the Spratlys, the Philippines controls eight islands and Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.
The potentially mineral-rich Spratlys chain is claimed in whole or in part by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.聽 In the 1990s, the military grounded an obsolete World War II-era transport ship on Ayungin Shoal, to serve as a sign of Manila鈥檚 claim.
Pagasa, at 37 hectares, is the biggest island controlled by the Philippines in the Spratlys and is just 34 hours away by boat from the town of Rizal in Palawan province.
The Department of National Defense said it was planning to improve its facilities already in place in the area, to include a barracks, water desalination systems, power generators, lighthouses and shelters for fishermen.
鈥淭he President recently announced plans to improve, and implement the Pagasa development plan, which included nine areas,鈥� presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said.
鈥淭his is part of his mandate to serve the best interests of the nation,鈥� he added.
Chinese jet sighted
China鈥檚 foreign ministry on Friday expressed concern over聽 Mr. Duterte鈥檚 statement, saying it hoped that the Philippines would continue to properly manage maritime disputes there.
Both sides are to meet in May to discuss a bilateral mechanism to handle disputes over their respective claims.
Mr. Duterte鈥檚 statement also came on the same day that an American think tank said a Chinese fighter jet had been spotted on a Chinese-held island in the disputed territory.
The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (Amti) identified the aircraft as a J-11 fighter jet and was visible in a satellite image taken on March 29 of Woody Island in the Paracel island chain.
News of the sighting came as US President Donald Trump was in Florida for meetings with China鈥檚 President Xi Jinping on Thursday and Friday at which he was expected to air US concerns about China鈥檚 pursuit of territory and militarization of outposts in the South China Sea.
Amti said it was unclear how long the plane had been there, but added that similar deployments on artificial islands China had built further south in the South China Sea鈥檚 Spratly archipelago could be expected now that military facilities had been completed there. 鈥擶ITH REPORTS FROM LEILA B. SALAVERRIA, REUTERS, AP AND AFP