CAGAYAN de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez today urged the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to install more navigational buoys that would mark the country’s territorial waters that China is claiming.
The markers “should serve as a warning to the Chinese and other foreign powers that those are a demarcation of our 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) under international law,” said Rodrigues.
Rodriguez also praised the Coast Guard for installing navigational buoys in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) to affirm the country's sovereignty over disputed islets, reefs, and shoals, adding that more are needed in the entire breadth from the northern part of the country in the Ilocos region to the south in the Palawan area.
Earlier, the PCG installed five navigational buoys “on critical areas” in the West Philippine Sea to emphasize that the area is within Philippine territory.
Even on Sunday, PCG adviser for maritime security Commodore Jay Tarriela said the Task Force Kaligtasan sa Karagatan (Task Force for Maritime Safety) placed buoys in waters off Patag Island, Balagtas Reef, Kota Island, Panata Island, and Julian Felipe Reef.
Tarriela said the buoys “[signify] the country’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction.”
“This move highlights the Philippines' unwavering resolve to protect its maritime borders and resources and contribute to the safety of maritime trade,” Tarriela added.
In addition, Rodriguez also said the markers not only serve as a warning to the Chinese but to other foreign powers that those are a demarcation of our 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) under international law.”
“China should leave that area. They have no business occupying certain islets and sea features there,” he said.
Rodrigues reiterated that the PCG should procure more buoys and include funding for those markers in its budget proposal to the Department of Budget and Management and Congress.
He said Coast Guard could also seek the help of the Philippine Navy in placing the buoys.
According to reports, the PCG installed markers carrying the national flag in five areas near the Spratly Islands group off Palawan, including Juan Felipe Reef, also known as Whitsun Reef, last month.
Meanwhile, in March 2001, the government protested the presence of more than 200 Chinese vessels around Juan Felipe Reef, which is about 175 miles from the Palawan town of Bataraza, well within the country’s 200-mile EEZ.
About half of the ships left in the aftermath of the protest. A year later, the Department of Foreign Affairs again sent Beijing a diplomatic note complaining about the continued presence of Chinese vessels in the vicinity of Juan Felipe Reef.
Rodriguez said the Coast Guard should also place buoys near Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal, which is about 120 miles from Zambales and Pangasinan and a traditional fishing ground for Filipino fishermen from the two provinces.
“That is part of our EEZ, and yet China is occupying it. The Chinese Coast Guard routinely harasses our fishermen there,” he said.
China seized Scarborough Shoal in 2012 after a standoff between the Chinese Coast Guard and the PCG.
