MANILA, Philippines — It is the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte which is lying to the public about the worrying developments in the South China Sea, an opposition lawmaker said on Monday.
This was Rep. Gary Alejano's (Magdalo) reaction to the accusation of Foreign Affairs Alan Peter Cayetano that he and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV falsely claimed that Duterte ordered the military to stop its patrols in the West Philippine Sea, the part of the South China Sea that the Philippines claims it owns.
Alejano said he received information months ago from a "source of authority" in the Armed Forces that the president directed the military to stop its patrols in the West Philippine Sea.
"I believe this is still the present situation in the West Philippine Sea as also affirmed by the fishermen on the ground," Alejano said.
National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. is quoted in reports last November as saying the Philippine Navy had stopped sending ships to Scarborough Shoal, also known as Panatag Shoal and Bajo de Masinloc, to ease tension with China.
He said, however, that Philippine Coast Guard ships were still being sent there.
The opposition lawmaker hit the government's practice of hiding the truth from the public and issuing false statements.
He said that the real situation in the disputed waters would remain hidden had reports about Chinese aggression and harassment of fisherment not come out.
"If this information did not come out, including testimonies from the fishermen themselves, the administration will continue to deceive the public by saying that the situation in the West Philippine Sea is peaceful," he said in Filipino.
Cayetano: Not prudent to go to Sandy Cay
Cayetano, who was Duterte' vice presidential candidate in 2016, said in a CNN Philippines interview that the country was still control over Sandy Cay, a shoal located some 2.5 nautical miles off Pag-asa Island, which is part of Palawan province.
The Foreign Affairs secretary stressed that Filipinos are free to patrol and fish in the waters.
When asked about Alejano's challenge for the two of them to go to Sandy Cay, Cayetano said that it would be imprudent for a foreign secretary of a claimant-country to go there.
"Of course you can go there anytime but is it prudent? Is it time for you to go? 'Cause if you go, what if Malaysian parliamentarians go to the features they control? What if the Vietnamese go there?" he said.
Under Duterte, the Philippines has tried to forge closer ties to China in an effort to court invesments in the country's economy.
He has also taken a non-confrontational approach to China's aggressiveness in the region following reports that it installed a missile system on its outposts and landed a nuclear-capable bomber on its island.
Alejano said that he would accept the challenge of Cayetano to have the former Marine officer escorted to Sandy Cay.
"While it is a letdown that Secretary Cayetano chickened out from the challenge to go to Sandy Cay with me, I hope I can rely on his words that he will have me escorted there. I will request then the Department of National Defense to allow me to join their next resupply mission in Pag-asa," he said.
He said that he would be glad to be proven wrong if that would mean that the Philippines was in effect controlling Sandy Cay.
"For the country’s sake and our fishermen’s welfare, I do hope I am wrong. Since Secretary Cayetano insists that we control Sandy Cay then we should be able to see markers in the area," he said.
The Philippines, China and a host of regional countries have overalapping claims to the waters believed to be holding vast reserves of natural resources.
In 2016, a United Nations-backed tribunal invalidated much of China's expansive claim to the disputed waters which is based on so-called historical rights.