Nanindigan ang Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) na hindi magbabago ang teritorrial claim ng Pilipinas sa West Philippine Sea (WPS), partikular sa Ayungin Shoal sa kabila nang naging kasunduan ng Pilipinas at China kaugnay sa pagsasagawa ng RoRe missions.
Sa budget hearing sa Kamara, pinalinaw ni ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro sa ahensya kung ano ang nilalaman ng naturang provisional understanding.
Ayon kay DFA Usec. Theresa Lazaro, Enero pa ng kasalukuyang taon naging sentro ng bilateral discussion ang usapin ng RORE mission sa Ayungin Shoal.
Naimbitahan pa nga aniya ang Pilipinas sa Shanghai sa China para ito ay pag-suapan ngunit walang narating.
Bago naman ang nakatakdang panibagong pag-uusap noong July 2, naganap nga ang insidente kung saan isa sa mga sundalo ng Pilipinas ang naputulan pa ng daliri matapos harangin ng Chinese Coast Guard.
“This issue of our problem with the Ayungin Shoal [regarding] concerning the RoRe, been a subject of bilateral discussions which I think started since January of this year when our DFA delegation was invited to Shanghai by our Chinese counterparts. But nothing really happened during that Shanghai meeting because of some non-starter issues. Thereafter, we told the Chinese counterparts to please, let’s continue our bilateral consultative mechanism here in Manila. It was set actually on July 2. However, there was an intervening event, which is the June 17, yung ating isang tropa na putulan po ng daliri,” pahayag ni Lazaro.
Nang magkaroon ng kasunduan, binigyang diin dito na hindi magbabago ang national position ng Pilipinas kaugnay sa usapin.
Magkakaroon din aniya ng review sa naturang provisional agreement kung saan kinikilala na ng China na kalayaan ng Pilipinas na magsagawa ng RoRe o yung Rotation and Reprovisioning of Essentials mission.
“This provisional arrangement is without prejudice to our national positions. Ito po siguro pinaka-importante provision, itong provisional arrangement. And number two, this will be subject to review. Now the main point here is, there is already an agreement that our Chinese friends have agreed that there is a RORE.”
Sabi naman ni DFA Sec. Enrique Manalo, na dahil sa nangako ang Pilipinas na kikilalanin ang naturang provisional agreement, umaasa sila ng igagalang din ito ng China.| ulat ni Kathleen Forbes
