De Lima: Deploy Navy to West Philippine Sea to foil harassment

MANILA, Philippines — In light of numerous instances of bullying, Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima yesterday proposed the government’s utilization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines – not just the civilian Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) – in warding off Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

“It is high time our Navy start defending innocent Filipino civilians inside our own EEZ (exclusive economic zone) and expel the Chinese pirates,” De Lima said.

In order to prevent escalation and avert a war, both countries – China and the Philippines – only use their coast guard vessels to patrol the waters off Palawan.

“We strongly condemn the recent harassment by the China Coast Guard in the WPS, including the deliberate firing of water cannons at Filipino fishing boats that injured three of our fishermen, as well as dangerous maneuvers against our PCG vessels,” she said. 

“This serious violation of our fishermen’s rights demands urgent and necessary action from the government. This is very worrisome for us, because they might do it again,” she stressed.

De Lima also lauded the PCG and the Filipino fishermen who rescued and provided medical care for those who were hurt in the recent incident.