By Alec Go
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday said he would push for the finalization of the code of conduct (COC) in the West Philippine Sea as a response to the tensions in the contested area.
The COC will make “things clearer” on the situation in the West Philippine Sea, Marcos told reporters prior to the start of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits in Indonesia.
“You cannot stop trying. So yes, I’ll bring it up again, because when we talk about the issues in the West Philippine Sea, South China Sea, hindi magkakalma ‘yan hanggang mayroon na tayong code of conduct,” he said.
“So yes, that has always, for me, been a key element in the ASEAN centrality solution of all these problems – [it’s] really the new code of conduct. Paulit-ulit ko lagi sinasabi ‘yan. In every forum I can find, sinasabi ko lagi kailangan natin tapusin,” he added.
The President noted that separate multilateral arrangements are among the challenges in coming up with a COC.
“[It] gets complicated because there are bilateral arrangements between member countries and China that we need to resolve so that we can have a common code of conduct,” he said.
“Because over the years, syempre lahat nakikipag-usap sa China, yung iba ASEAN dumadaan, iba ibang nangyayari,” he continued.
Though the chief executive mentioned pushing for the COC finalization, he noted that the negotiations will be separate from the ASEAN Summit.
“They negotiate in another way. So that’s not something that will be done here at this time,” he said, but added that bottlenecks and solutions in finalizing the COC may be discussed.
In a media interview at the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in November last year, Marcos said coming up with a COC is an urgent matter.
“There’s been some progress in the past year but we really need to have the actual code of conduct, already finalized and already in place as soon as possible,” he said.
– gb