President Bongbong Marcos clarified that the latest incident of Chinese Coast Guard aggression in the West Philippine Sea at Ayungin Shoal cannot be classified as an “armed attack” but a deliberate and illegal one.
An armed attack against any Philippine vessel can invoke or trigger the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the United States.
“It’s not armed, walang pumutok. Hindi tayo tinutukan ng baril but it was a deliberate action to stop our people. But in the process of that, kinuhanan tayo they boarded a Philippine vessel and took the equipment from the Philippine vessel,” said Marcos in an interview with reporters.
Marcos said that while it was not an armed attack, it can be considered a deliberate act.
“Although there were no arms involved, nonetheless it was still a deliberate action and it is still essentially an illegal action that was taken by the Chinese forces,” he added.
Marcos said that the country needs to do more apart from filing diplomatic protests.
“We have already made a similar number of demarche, so we have to do more than just that. Kasi papatawag natin ‘yung ambassador, sasabihin natin ito ‘yung position natin, hindi natin gusto ‘yung nangyari, and that’s it. But we have to do more than that, so we are doing just that,” said Marcos.
Marcos also explained why the incident was initially called a “misunderstanding.”
“Because noong una, tinitingnan pa lang natin ‘yung data. Eh baka nagkamali lang. Pero mula noong napunta ako sa WESCOM at nakausap ko si Admiral Torres pati na ‘yung mga seaman, sinabi ko ano ba talaga ‘yung nangyari? Maliwanag hindi misunderstanding. Talagang pinuntahan tayo para harangin ang ating sundalo,” he said.
