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China in Scarborough 'like a dagger': Golez

ABS-CBNnews.com
02/27/2014

MANILA - China's occupation of Panatag or Scarborough Shoal is like a "dagger to the solar plexus" especially if Beijing builds a military installation there, former National Security Adviser Roilo Golez warned on Thursday.

Speaking to ANC's Headstart, Golez said the Philippines should reject any offer of incentive from China because it is disadvantageous to the country.

"Security is priceless. If ever they convert Scarborough Shoal into another military installation the same way they did with Mischief Reef, that is a dagger right in our solar plexus. It is very close to our economic zones, Manila Bay, Subic, even our military bases in the area. They could use that to monitor and interdict us in the future," he said.

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"I said - what kind of an incentive is that? It is our exclusive economic zone. Why should we reciprocate them leaving our own exclusive economic zone? Parang sa Tagalog e pinasok yung bakuran mo tapos sasabihin nung pumasok sa bakuran: 'O sige, aalis ako. Umalis ka din.'

Anong klaseng palitan ng incentive yan?" he asked.

China and the Philippines have been locked in a tense dispute over ownership of the Panatag or Scarborough Shoal, which is 220 km from Zambales.

The Philippine government claims Beijing has effectively gained control of the shoal, while China says the shoal is part of its historical claim to most of the South China Sea including waters near the coasts of its neighbors.

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"The memorial is like, in common legal parlance, is that it is like a pleading, a brief where we have the statement of facts, our history in the area, the basis for our claims and the statement of law why we are saying that legally by international law especially UNCLOS this area is ours and there is no basis for the 9-dash line of China," he said.

He also said China offered a "trade carrot" to the country after Beijing said it had $10 trillion in trade being opened to the world.

He said that in September last year, the Chinese ambassador even mentioned that the Philippines and China should concentrate on trade and set aside the dispute.

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"I think we have been keeping calm. The fact that we did not exaggerate the issue. We simply reported the incident and it is our duty to report that because it is the government's duty to protect our fishermen especially poor fishermen, hungry fishermen, thousands of them whose livelihoods for hundreds or maybe thousands of years have been dependent on this fishing area which is well within our exclusive economic zone," he said.

Golez said Filipino fishermen should continue to fish in the area to assert the country's rights over the territory.

He also does not believe that China's attempts to deter Filipino fishermen would lead to deaths.

"I think the fishermen should continue going there. They may be harassed by Chinese surveillance ships but there are a lot of them and I think at this point, China is simply trying to intimidate them and deter them but I don't think anything foolish will be resolved in the death of our fishermen especially well within our exclusive economic zone," he said.

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