A MEMBER of the House Committee on Foreign Relations on Tuesday assailed the reported offer of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to downgrade the Philippines’s claim on Sabah in exchange for Malaysia’s support to the country’s case against China over disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea.
Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian warned that such move will hurt the country’s sovereignty.
The Philippine has filed several cases and protests against China before a United Nations court following Beijing’s incursions in the West Philippine Sea.
“The DFA’s move to use Sabah as a bargaining chip to gain the support of Malaysia for our case against China lodged before the UN is a huge diplomatic faux pas bordering on a sellout,” Gatchalian said.
Earlier, Party-list Rep. Francisco Ashley Acedillo of Magdalo said China’s ongoing reclamation in disputed islets and shoals on the West Philippine Sea pose an impending danger to the Philippines’s national security.
“I urge the National Security Council—President Aquino—please convene it and tackle this impending existential threat to our country’s territory, sovereignty and economic well-being,” Acedillo said.
The National Security Council (NSC) is the principal advisory body on the proper coordination and integration of plans and policies affecting national security.
The council proper is a collegial body chaired by the President. It includes concerned officials of the Cabinet and Congress, as members, as well as other government officials and private citizens who may be invited by the President.
Gatchalian said: “The very idea of giving up our strong claim of ownership over Sabah, even if it is just a ‘note verbale,’ smacks of a sellout.”
He also criticized the DFA for even toying with the idea of having a quid pro quo deal with Malaysia since there is no assurance that Malaysia will help the Philippines with its dispute with China, saying, “Malaysia itself has overlapping territorial interests and is China’s top trading partner in Southeast Asia.”