Panayam kay NSC Asst. Dir. General Jonathan Malaya kaugnay sa West Philippine Sea
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00:00 Good afternoon to all of you and of course, good afternoon to my partner, ADG John.
00:06 Yes, good afternoon partner. It's Monday again. We are together here in the new Philippines today.
00:12 And every Monday, we look forward to our interview with ADG Malaya.
00:17 Really? Is that true?
00:18 Of course.
00:19 In the discussion of West Philippine Sea, ADG, China said that the interpretation of the Philippines
00:28 in their new Coast Guard Regulation, what is the detail here?
00:32 Well, I don't understand why they call this malicious because this new Coast Guard Regulation
00:40 where they have the right to stop, arrest and expel fishermen, for example,
00:49 or anyone who trespasses in their so-called sea without trial, partner, this is under the jurisdiction of our government
00:59 and the government in the region because it does not only apply to the Philippines,
01:07 it also applies to Taiwan, for example, to Brunei, Indonesia, to Malaysia,
01:12 all the countries that are in the South China Sea and in particular, our 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone.
01:21 So, this kind of China's release of the new regulation,
01:26 along with our civilian convoy, is under our jurisdiction and we consider this as provocative and escalatory.
01:38 Because they are afraid of our fishermen who trespass because they can be arrested and detained for 30 to 60 days
01:49 even without a trial.
01:51 There is no such thing as arresting or detaining Chinese Coast Guard so far.
01:57 There is not. They said that the implementation of this new Coast Guard Regulation will start on June 15.
02:05 But in my opinion, partner, this is just part of China's scare tactics.
02:10 Are we being intimidated or threatened?
02:13 So, the position of the National Security Council is that we should not be intimidated, we should not be defeated.
02:19 We should continue to fish for our citizens and we should protect our rights
02:26 because the whole world knows that the West Philippine Sea is part of the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.
02:34 You know, ADG is still scary. I mean, for me, it is like an ordinary citizen.
02:39 Because if you think about it, they did not do it without a trial.
02:44 What if they actually do it, detain our fishermen, our innocent fishermen, for example, without trial?
02:51 Well, first of all, in 2021, they also issued a new Coast Guard law that has these powers and authority
02:59 but they did not do it. It's been how many years since then?
03:03 So, in our opinion, and in the opinion of the Philippine Coast Guard, this is an empty threat on the part of China.
03:09 But just in case, as you said, partner, they might do this,
03:15 our President and National Security Advisor Eduardo Año ordered our Philippine Coast Guard,
03:21 together with other assets like the Philippine Navy, to look at the presence.
03:27 In other words, in the city, police visibility, on the part of our naval assets,
03:35 greater presence so that if there is an incident like this, they can call and our ships can go to war.
03:45 Okay, so what else, aside from what you said, visibility, what else will the government do
03:51 to protect our countrymen from China's harassment here in the West Philippine Sea?
03:57 Well, we don't want to give too much attention because we know that this is just a scare tactic.
04:04 The moment we raise this officially to the Chinese government,
04:08 it's some sort of acquiescence or recognition that they have that kind of authority.
04:14 So our call to our countrymen is to continue your fishing, our civilians, those civilian convoys,
04:24 let's just continue it.
04:25 And to our neighboring countries, to the ASEAN region, to other countries that believe in international law,
04:34 let's just continue to sail these high seas.
04:38 Nothing will stop us here except ourselves.
04:43 Let's assert the supremacy of international law
04:47 because that's the only way we can have a rules-based international order.
04:52 This is ADG that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is also investigating
04:58 the unauthorized wiretapping of the Chinese Embassy in Manila to an authorized official of the AFP.
05:05 What is the NSC's response to this?
05:07 Well, we are not a law enforcement agency. Our law enforcement and investigative bodies are the National Bureau of Investigation,
05:15 the DOJ, and the Philippine National Police.
05:17 And I understand, I was told that they are already doing their investigation here.
05:23 But we support, of course, the call of our President to investigate this.
05:27 Indeed, if it's true that there is an alleged wiretapping, this is a violation of Philippine laws.
05:36 And it's not good that our visitors to our country, the diplomats,
05:45 they are guests of the Philippine government, are violating the laws of the Philippines.
05:53 So it's important for our country to know the root of this alleged wiretapping
06:01 because the Chinese Embassy itself is the one who issued this.
06:03 Alright. Thank you very much for your updates, ADG John.
06:07 Thank you very much, partner.
06:09 partner.