DFA chief gives update on status of Maritime Zones Act
DFA chief gives update on status of Maritime Zones Act
Transcript
00:00Diplomatic protests are documents of record once they are officially filed,
00:04and the Philippine government has filed at least 173 such communications with the Chinese embassy.
00:11And the country's top diplomat stressed the country's communications with Beijing in
00:16protesting certain acts during encounters in the high seas is not limited to official
00:21protests or notes verbal, as our Soojin Kim dwells on in this report.
00:27The Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo today joined the Foreign Correspondents
00:34Association of the Philippines to answer foreign and local presses questions.
00:38Among the queries, Secretary Manalo gave an update on the status of the Maritime Zones Act.
00:44I believe that it's ready to be sent to the Senate. So any day soon, I'm not quite sure
00:49whether he's cited, but I'm quite sure it will be sent to the Senate. I don't think
00:53there's any problem on the bills if you what you're saying. So it's just a matter of a procedural issue.
01:00Secretary Manalo maintains the Philippines is committed to addressing all issues in the South
01:05China Sea in accordance with the rule of law. He disclosed that following the June 17 incident
01:10wherein a Philippine Navy personnel severed his thumb, relevant parties are determining the extent
01:15and cost of damages. Moreover, after a series of other incidents around the area, with a total of
01:21170 free diplomatic protests filed thus far, Secretary Manalo clarifies that on the Philippines'
01:27end, actions do not stop with just mere filing of protests. Do we stop there? No, we don't
01:33stop there. There are many other ways in addition to the notes verbal to make a protest or to
01:38indicate your displeasure. One is through direct contact. In the case of China, for example, we have
01:44the, I referred to it earlier, the bilateral consultation mechanism. We're also having
01:50partnerships, arrangements. In fact, we have strategic partnerships now as well as
01:56we have various meetings with partners. For example, we even had the two plus two meetings.
02:01So the notes verbal are mainly just one, one instrument. They're not the sole instrument
02:07that is used in, let's say, notifying a country of, you know, your displeasure with whatever
02:17action they've done. Regarding the air incident with China's use of flares during the recent
02:22resupply mission, Secretary Manalo adds. At this stage, we have the provisional understanding
02:30on the resupply missions and that's what we'll focus on. He adds both the United States and
02:36the Philippines are still committed to the mutual defense treaty. On the other hand, when asked
02:40about the ICC on former President Rodrigo Duterte's case, Secretary Manalo says they have not received
02:46any kind of communication, stating this is reasonable since the country is no longer a
02:51member of the ICC. Sujin Kayem from the National TV Network for the New and Better Philippines.