A SENIOR lawmaker on Sunday urged the Armed Forces and the Coast Guard to uphold their promise to safeguard Filipino fishermen at the West Philippine Sea as China threatens to detain “trespassers” starting June 15 for 60 days without trial, asserting that this area is part of its territorial waters.
Villafuerte also expressed support for the Department of Justice and the Office of the Solicitor General in filing an environmental damage case against China for its island-building activities that have damaged coral reefs in the WPS. He praised this legal initiative as part of the Marcos administration’s strategy to highlight and condemn China’s aggressive actions in Philippine waters under international law.
“This unilaterally-imposed fishing ban on Beijing in the WPS has neither a legal nor scientific basis,” as the WPS, as declared under the 1994 UNCLOS and affirmed in the 2016 PCA ruling, falls within our EEZ, and is thus legally part of the maritime territory of the Philippines and not China’s, Villafuerte said.
Earlier, the AFP said it has contingency measures in case China imposes its new regulation starting June 15 on detaining “trespassers” for 60 days without trial.