Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday (July 14) lauded the “clear-thinking stand” of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on China’s sweeping ownership claims in the South China Sea as he urged the Duterte administration to “never waver in its defense” of the country’s territory.
“We shall never and should not shut up into giving up our offshore treasures,” Sotto said in a Viber message.
“Let us continue to hold hands in our fight for our sovereign rights,” Sotto said.
Stopping short of asking the government to rally behind Pompeo’s verbal tirades against Beijing, the Senate leader said the Philippines should keep fighting for “what is legally ours.”
“We should never cower in fear from the harassment and political intimidation that foreign governments impose on us,” he said.
“We should stand firm and prove that we, as a nation, remain united in our common desire to claim and protect our sovereign jurisdiction,” he added.
Apparently referring to China’s rejection of the arbitral ruling in favor of the Philippines, Sotto said illegal actions “can never be made lawful by the whims and caprices of a foreign power, which treats the entire South China Sea as its territory.”