Presidential candidate and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno vows to defend the country’s sovereignty in Scarborough Shoal by personally visiting the contested area not by jetski but aboard a Navy ship.
“If I need to be with the fisherfolks, I’ll be with them. If Zelensky can do it, we can do it also,” Moreno said in an interview during his visit in Misamis Oriental.
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“No, not jetski. Hindi aabot ang jetski doon. Mayroon naman tayong frigates. I’ll be there. Why not? Not through jetski. I’m going to be fair to you and I don’t want to overpromise things. But we’ll be there, we’ll protect our fishermen. We need to fish in our ocean, within our sovereign territory,” said Moreno.
Moreno did not directly address the question if this would anger China and militarize the situation in the area.
“Tayo, hindi tayo makikipag-away pero tandaan mo, hindi rin tayo nagpapaapi,” he said.
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Scarborough Shoal is within the country’s exclusive economic zone.
To recall, President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to ride a jetski to assert the country’s rights in the West Philippine Sea during the 2016 elections. But he backtracked and said it was only a campaign joke.
