Senator Risa Hontiveros on Thursday said Senator Alan Peter Cayetano’s move to oppose the adoption of a resolution urging the Department of Foreign Affairs to elevate China’s harassment in the West Philippine Sea in the United Nations General Assembly was “not completely surprising.”
In a television interview, Hontiveros, who authored the resolution, said Cayetano’s actions during Wednesday’s session were expected.
“When I saw that Senator Cayetano stood up, I wasn’t completely surprised because this is not the first time that he did not support pressing the case against China,” she said.
“Our resolution is very simple. It is expressing the sense of the Senate to urge the Philippine government through the Department of Foreign Affairs to sponsor a resolution in the UNGA calling on China to respect and to comply with that Hague ruling, and to cease and desist from her harassment of Philippine vessels in the West Philippine Sea,” she added.
During the period of interpellation on the resolution, Cayetano argued that urging the DFA to bring the WPS issue to the UNGA without consulting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on the matter may “not be the best strategy.”
“We should strengthen the position of the country. I disagree with the president on some issues. I might disagree with him on the China issue — how to deal with China,” Cayetano said.
“But I do believe he was the one elected, and we should at least hear out his people
— the national task force on the West Philippine Sea and the DFA — so that we know where we’re going,” he added.
Citing overlapping claims with other Southeast Asian countries, he also questioned why the resolution is “limited only” to China.
Hontiveros, however, lamented that the Senate resolution is just a “simple expression” of the Senate, as an independent institution, of “what we feel the Executive may further do.”
She also clarified that the move was “not mutual” with any and all other political and diplomatic moves that the government should take.
“Yes, it was a bit surprising, but then again, given his (Cayetano) history short of easing the Philippine foot on the gas pedal vis-a-vis China, I have to confess I wasn’t completely surprised,” she stressed.
Cayetano took the helm at the DFA during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte, who veered away from the United States, the country’s traditional ally, and developed warmer ties with China.
‘Huge humiliation’
For her part, Senator Imee Marcos, the eldest sister of the president, expressed concern about the move to bring the WPS issue to the UNGA.
“We already have in hand the arbitral judgment, which is far more powerful and important,” Marcos said in an interview at the Kapihan sa Senado.
The presidential sister also cautioned that the 2016 landmark victory of the Philippines against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration may get weakened should the country lose in the voting at the UNGA.
“Furthermore, I also worry that we may not generate the necessary votes. It’s a huge humiliation if we lose in the General Assembly,” she pointed out.
‘Confident’
Meanwhile, Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, who co-sponsored the resolution on Wednesday, expressed his confidence that the upper chamber would still adopt it next week.
“We are still confident that the Resolution will pass this week. As to whether we will retain the original wording, that remains to be seen,” Zubiri said in a separate statement.
While senators differ on how to put forward the issue, he noted, that the Senate is “united” in the desire to “condemn the harassment and bullying of our fisherfolk and Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea and ultimately, to enforce the 2016 arbitral award.”