The Philippine government viewed China's latest aggression "as a blatant violation of international law", Department of Secretary (DND) Secretary Gilbert 'Gibo' Teodoro said on Monday, Oct. 23.
"The Philippine government views the latest aggression by China as a blatant violation of international law. China has no legal right or authority to conduct law enforcement operations in our territorial waters and exclusive economic zone," he said during a press briefing with the Malacañang Press Corps (MPC).
Teodoro made the statement after President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. convened security authorities to discuss China's "dangerous maneuvers" during the Philippine's routine Rotation and Resupply (RORE) mission to Ayungin Shoal last Sunday morning, Oct. 22.
[THREAD] Press briefing ng Department of National Defense tungkol sa command conference na ipinatawag ni Pangulong @bongbongmarcos. #SamaSamaTayoPilipino pic.twitter.com/Obrt5CX4Xw
— DZRH NEWS (@dzrhnews) October 23, 2023
According to the DND Chief, the national government, including Marcos, is taking the "incident seriously."
“The highest levels of government are giving serious weight to this incident, given the false narrative of China, and the aggressive behavior they displayed. We cannot take this lightly nor tolerate it,” he said.
“The President is taking this very seriously, so much so he called a command conference this morning,” Teodoro added.
The DND Chief contended that China "is deliberately obfuscating the truth", and he questioned the latter's official statement in which it said that its Coast Guard had practiced "restraint".
"In law, we have a principle of things that speak for itself. Was that restraint? I don't think so. Any unbiased person with reason will see that this is not restraint, and there was another attempt to distort the narrative by saying there was a supposed promise,” he said.
According to Teodoro, Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian and Philippine Ambassador to China Jaime Florcruz had been instructed to “condemn the reckless and illegal act of the Chinese government.”
"We call on our people to stand behind the government in executing our constitutional mandate to secure the national interest in the West Philippine Sea," the DND Chief furthered.
In the same press briefing, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Admiral Ronnie Gavan said he had directed the PCG Palawan Commander to “conduct a maritime incident investigation immediately as mandated by international maritime laws.”
“We will be submitting the report of our investigation through the Department of Transpiration to the President for final disposition,” he added.
PCG Admiral Gavan: Now in the orders of the President, the Philippine Coast Guard will now focus on the conduct of marine incident investigation.#SamaSamaTayoPilipino pic.twitter.com/Pc8B46QLam
— DZRH NEWS (@dzrhnews) October 23, 2023
