By Priam Nepomuceno | Philippine News Agency
The result of a recent OCTA Research survey is proof of the Filipinos’ “unwavering resilience” against China’s “influence operations,” Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said Tuesday.
“It (survey) shows a growing public awareness of the realities facing our country in the WPS (West Philippine Sea), and the unwavering resilience of Filipinos against China’s malign influence operations in the country,” Teodoro said in a statement.
OCTA’s “Tugon ng Masa” survey, conducted from July 12 to 17 using face-to-face interviews and had 1,200 male and female respondents, shows 85% of Filipinos distrust China, while 76% “strongly” support asserting the country’s maritime rights in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
OCTA said the distrust stemmed mostly from China’s aggressive actions in the WPS.
Teodoro said the result is “strong indicator” of the Filipinos’ acceptance of ongoing “efforts to resist attempts to undermine our strategic agency and upend the rules-based international order.”
China has been consistently harassing Philippine patrols in the WPS, at times resorting to “gray-zone tactics” like the use of water cannons as part of its efforts to establish itself in the maritime territory well within Manila’s exclusive economic zone.
Teodoro said the sustained public support for the government’s approach “further strengthens our resolve in defending our rights in the WPS under international law and affirmed by the 2016 Arbitral Ruling.”
On July 12, 2016, the Arbitral Tribunal, constituted under the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, dismissed as illegal China’s so-called nine-dash line, which covers and lays territorial claim over a huge portion of the South China Sea, including the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the WPS.
China has defied the ruling with aggressive actions in the WPS.
