President Ferdinand Marcos, being the chief architect of Philippine foreign policy, has said that the country will not use water cannons to retaliate against China's continued harassment in the disputed areas of the West Philippine Sea.
Indeed, the President is correct in stressing that it was not the country's mission to increase tension in that part of Philippine territory. What we are doing is defending our sovereign rights and we have no intention of attacking anyone.
A maritime expert on Tuesday supported this pacifist stance rejecting the use of water cannons by Philippine vessels.
University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea director Jay Batongbacal said a retaliatory move by the Philippines would only meet a harsher response from China.
"In my opinion, that is just right because China has a lot more water cannons than us, if we retaliate with one water cannon, they will counter with four or six. I don't see it getting anywhere except from just seeing us retaliate)," he said.
Batongbacal reiterated that Philippine water cannons are used for extinguishing fires at sea. He said that if Manila goes head-to-head with Beijing, it is likely a Philippine Coast Guard ship will sink, resulting in the loss of a maritime asset.
He said it would only give China an excuse to justify a stronger response against Philippine vessels in the WPS.
"Hindi tayo dapat magpahuli sa ganung patibong (We should not fall for that trap)," he added.
We also believe that Manila's stance of maintaining restraint is the best move, as it continues to gain support from the international community.
At this stage of the Philippines' fight to assert its rights in the West Philippine Sea, we cannot afford to scale up the tension and see a deterioration of the dispute. Which is what other parties would like to see happen.
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