“It would be best for the Philippine government to assert its sovereignty on the West Philippine Sea without playing one superpower against the other. If this competition for dominance escalate, we will surely be crushed in the middle of it all.”
Filipino progressives marked today’s commemoration of the Day of Valor with a firm stand against the increasing Chinese militia presence in the country’s territory in the disputed waters of the West Philippine Sea.
“[The CPP] calls on all forces, from the mass-based democratic forces to the conservative political oppositions as well as elements within the ruling regime and in the military and police forces, to exert all effort to assert the country’s sovereign rights and drive away the Chinese imperialist aggressors,” it said.
By DEE AYROSO
Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said Ambassador Huang Xilian should be expelled if his explanation is unsatisfactory.
A Filipino fisherfolk group urged the government to drive away the reported Chinese militia vessels in the country’s exclusive economic zone in the disputed West Philippine Sea, calling it a “blatant show of force, bordering to military aggression.”
Many netizens said that they only wasted almost two hours of their time listening to Duterte’s speech which they described as nothing but an attack on his critics and defense of China.
Under the guise of ‘freedom of navigation’ and ‘commitment to support regional stability’, China and the US have been taking turns in militarizing our territorial waters and plundering our natural resources.
“We strongly condemn this collision incident in our territorial waters involving our Filipino fishermen and a Chinese vessel. We call on the authorities to expedite the search and rescue operations for the missing fishing crew and, as much as possible, must be returned to their families safe.”
“…[t]hese potentials are being challenged by different environmentally destructive projects and interventions and intensified extraction of natural and mineral resources. Our sovereignty over our natural resources is being bastardized. “
“Duterte downplays the issue of our fishermen, because he thinks little of his fellow Filipinos. He treats even the constitution as just toilet paper.”