Committee Chair Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro City).
CAGAYAN de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez today urged President Marcos to take “more drastic” actions against the newest “harassment and bullying tactic” employed by China on Philippine Coast Guard and Philippine Navy vessels.
“I ask the President to downgrade our embassy in Beijing to show our deep indignation, anger and protest over the water cannon blast by the Chinese Coast Guard on our personnel,” he said.
“The President should also order our unusually quiet and inactive ambassador there to return to Manila and to replace him with a lower-level diplomatic officer,” he said.
Rodriguez said the administration “should now firmly address these continuous violations of our sovereignty rights over the West Philippine Sea.”
“We cannot allow these harassment and bullying tactics and encroachment on our maritime territory to continue. We have to take more drastic actions, instead of filing the usual diplomatic protest note,” he stressed.
He added that he would file a resolution condemning the Chinese Coast Guard and calling for the downgrading of the country’s diplomatic representation in China, which would “effectively shrink our ties with Beijing.”
The Mindanao lawmaker has been a consistent critic of China’s aggressive activities in the West Philippine Sea. He has called Being an “interloper” and a “frenemy.”
At the same time, he has expressed support for President Marcos’ efforts to strengthen the country’s relations with its defense treaty partner and long-time ally, the United States, and other allies in the Asia-Pacific region.
The US, Britain, Canada and the nation’s regional allies like Japan and Australia have issued statements condemning the use of water cannons on Philippine vessels last Saturday.
The vessels were resupplying a platoon of Filipino soldiers stationed on a rusting Navy board on Ayungin Shoal off Palawan.
