NAVAL forces in Western Mindanao have been alerted on the sailing of a Chinese ship into the disputed South China Sea and its possible incursion into the country’s waters.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the military will guard the country’s waters in the West Philippine Sea, and will lodge another diplomatic protest if the ship will intrude into the Philippine territory.
Reports indicate that a Chinese ship had sailed for the South China Sea with a mission to protect Beijing’s maritime claims over the area.
Gazmin, however, said the government does not need to worry because the vessel is a civilian ship, being with the China Marine Surveillance (CMS).
“These are maritime ships, so we don’t have to worry, but we are guarding our area of responsibility,” he said on Thursday.
The CMS is considered the maritime police force of China, and it is one of the offices under the China Oceanic Administration.
A ship from the CMS was the one photographed by Filipino troops while unloading construction materials at the Amy Douglas Bank late last month. Its crewmen erected the concrete fence and placed a buoy in the territory claimed by Manila.
The markers were later dismantled by Filipino fishermen.
Early this month, Navy personnel also dismantled wooden markers that were believed to have been placed by China in the Boxall Reef.
Defense Undersecretary Eduardo Batac however said on Thursday that it could not be ascertained yet whether the markers are from China since there are no signs that shows they are Chinese-owned.
Gazmin said any intrusion of the Chinese ship into the country’s territory should be validated in order to merit the filing of protest.
He said the government will also invoke the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).
Gazmin noted that every time such a violation is committed, China always insists that it was moving within its territory.
Meantime, defense and military officials refused to confirm on Thursday that the Navy’s flagship, the World War II-vintage RPS Rajah Humabon, steamed toward the Scarborough Shoal, which is near Zambales, and also being claimed by China.
Batac said he needs to validate the report.
The shoal is located on the eastern portion of the West Philippine Sea.
The town of Masinloc in Zambales is claiming it as part of its territory, and called it as “Bajo de Masinloc.”
The shoal, which the Chinese call the Huangyan Island, is about 200 kilometers away from Masinloc.
Improved tax yield to spare PHL from bullying in Spratlys
PRESIDENT Aquino said on Thursday improved tax collections would keep the Philippines from being rebuked by other claimant-countries in times of disputes in the West Philippine Sea.
The President made the statement at the 57th anniversary of the Court of Tax Appeals at the Multipurpose Hall of the CTA Building II.
“If we can fully put in order the system of taxation, we can collect enough or have additional funds for our other projects in the government....It would help improve the capability of our Armed Forces. If we develop our military capability, we cannot just be rebuked by other states during times of misunderstanding, like disputes in the West Philippine Sea,” he said.
The President was apparently referring to the statement made last week by China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, who had said China’s demand for the Philippines to “stop unilateral actions that damage China’s sovereignty and interests at sea and could lead to the expansion and complication of the South China Sea dispute.”
The President also said the Court of Tax Appeals has an “important role to play” in ensuring that the “negligence of the past decade is not repeated” or that time when some people paid grease money to Bureau of Internal Revenue personnel to evade proper tax payment.
He said if there are no tax evaders, there would be sufficient health-care facilities, enough classrooms and textbooks, and policemen and soldiers would be fully equipped with protective gear and arms.
(With Mia Gonzales)
