Manila Philippines — President Bongbong Marcos is summoning the Ambassador of China in connection with the incident of assault and seizure of Philippine Navy personnel’s equipment by Chinese Coast Guard personnel in Ayungin Shoal.
According to Marcos, the purpose of summoning Ambassador Huang Xilian is to discuss the position of the Philippines in the incident.
“We have already made a similar number of demarches, so we have to do more than just that. Because we will call the ambassador, we will say this is our position, we don’t like what happened, and that’s it. But we have to do more than that, so we are doing just that,” according to Marcos in an interview.
The President insisted that the military troops were not used by force.
The president added that CCG personnel did not point a gun at the military personnel and saying they only did to stop the operation of the military troops in Ayungin.
“It’s not armed, no one fired. A gun was not pointed at us but it was a deliberate action to stop our people. But in the process of that, we were filmed, they boarded a Philippine vessel and took the equipment from the Philippine vessel,” added the President.
The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea recently condemned the incident and the Philippines has filed diplomatic protest against the Chinese government.
During Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo’s attendance at the 2014 International Media Conference, the secretary insisted on the Philippines’ adherence to the open, inclusive and international rules-based order of the international community that was taught by President Bongbong Marcos.
“President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr, has repeatedly underscored the Philippines’ adherence to an “open, inclusive, and rules-based international order [that] is governed by international law and informed by the principles of equity and justice,” said Win.
As the Philippines continues to adhere with the allied countries that have a common desire to maintain the truth, amid tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
“We have also been working with our allies and partners in the international community who value and share the same respect for upholding the truth,” the secretary added.
This is part of the DFA’s transparency regarding any dispute over the disputed territory in the South China Sea.
In a statement, the Philippine Coast Guard confirmed again the China Coast Guard Monster ship with body number 5901 in Philippine waters.
The Philippines continues to monitor the movement of the said monster ship.