AN official of the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) asserted on Saturday that China lacks the authority to carry out any law enforcement operations within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
“The National Task Force-West Philippine Sea wishes to emphasize that China has no authority or power to conduct law enforcement operations in our exclusive economic zone,” National Security Council (NSC) Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said in a news forum in Quezon City.
Malaya said that it is only the Philippine government that has the sovereign right to law enforcement operations in the area as it is within the country’s exclusive economic zone.
He added that it is the power of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) “to assert to the extent, the Armed Forces of the Philippines” as far as law enforcement operations in the West Philippine Sea are concerned.
Malaya made the remarks in response to the claims of the China Coast Guard (CCG) that they were conducting law enforcement operations in Ayungin Shoal on Friday when the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the PCG were conducting a rotation and reprovisioning (RoRe) mission in the Philippine waters.
Two supply boats brought food and other replenishment supplies to troops stationed onboard BRP Sierra Madre.
While the PCG and the AFP succeeded with their mission, Malaya said that there were still incidents of “harassment, dangerous maneuvers and aggressive conduct by vessels of the China Coast Guard and of the Chinese maritime militia (CMM)” directed at Filipino troops.
Malaya explicitly condemned the actions of the CCG and the CMM, stressing that law enforcement operations within the country’s EEZ are well within its sovereign rights and responsibilities of the Philippines.
“Law enforcement operations in the exclusive economic zone are within the purview of elements of the Philippine government – and that is why mali po iyong sinabi ng China Coast Guard,” Malaya stressed.
“Again, we strongly deplore and condemn the continued illegal, aggressive, and destabilizing conduct of the CCG and CMM within the nation’s exclusive economic zone,” he added.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. made clear in his intervention during the 18th East Asia Summit in Indonesia that the Philippines condemned the harassment in the South China Sea and stood firm in the government’s commitment to assert its sovereign rights over the Philippine waters.
The chief executive also called on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to rally and take action on the continued use of the “dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels in the South China Sea.
