By Brian Jules Campued
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday said that the China Coast Guard’s (CCG) recent ramming incident of Philippine vessels in Ayungin Shoal cannot be considered an armed attack but clarified that it is still an “illegal action” to stop the Philippine Navy’s (PN) rotation and reprovision (RORE) mission in the West Philippine Sea.
“It’s not armed. Walang pumutok. Hindi tayo tinutukan ng baril. But it was deliberate. It was a deliberate action to stop our people,” President Marcos told reporters following the 2024 National Employment Summit in Manila.
On June 17, CCG boats rammed a Philippine government supply ship and even brandished bladed weapons against Filipino troops. During the confrontation, one Navy soldier had his thumb cut off.
“They boarded a Philippine vessel and took the equipment from the Philippine vessel. So, although there were no arms involved, nonetheless, it is still a deliberation action, and it is essentially an illegal action that was taken by the Chinese forces,” Marcos said.
Last week, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said the National Maritime Council (NMC) is still not yet ready to classify the June 17 incident as an armed attack but “probably a misunderstanding or accident”.
The President said while the government has already protested the incident, it’s about time for the government to go beyond just the usual filing of diplomatic protests against China.
“We have over a hundred protests already. We have already made a similar number of démarches. So, we have to do more than just that,” Marcos said.
“Kasi ipapatawag natin ‘yung ambassador, sasabihin natin ito ‘yung position natin, hindi natin gusto yung nangyari, and that’s it. But we have to do more than that,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive also reiterated that the Philippines does not need the intervention of the International Criminal Court (ICC) following the recent acquittal of former Senator Leila de Lima from her drug charges.
Marcos said the decision of the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 206 of clearing De Lima of the third and last charge in the series of drug-related cases filed against her in 2017, proved that the Philippine justice system is working.
“We still stay with our position that the ICC has no jurisdiction in the Philippines because we have a working police force, we have a working judiciary, and do not require any assistance in that regard,” he said.
The ICC has been probing the alleged crimes against humanity under the war on drugs campaign of former president Rodrigo Duterte. – av
