By Katrina Gracia Consebido
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) vowed on Tuesday, Jan. 24, to “vigilantly monitor” developments in the West Philippine Sea after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The DFA issued the statement after members of the Chinese Coast Guard reportedly drove away Filipino fishermen in Ayungin Shoal.
“The Department awaits the official reports from the military and our law enforcement agencies on the China Coast Guard’s actions to force Filipino fishermen in Ayungin Shoal to leave the area. The reports will serve as [a] basis for diplomatic action on the incident,” DFA said.
DFA stressed the Philippines already made a “permanent presence” in the Ayungin Shoal in 1995 with the actively commissioned Philippine naval vessel, BRP Sierra Madre.
DFA affirmed that “Ayungin Shoal is part of the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of the Philippines” and that the “Philippines is entitled to exercise sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the area without any intervention from another country.”
“Filipino fishermen are free to exercise their rights and take whatever they are due under Philippine and international law, particularly the 1982 UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award,” it added. – gb
