CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — With China standing pat on its claim on the West Philippine Sea, the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) urged Pres. Duterte to “rally the other five claimant countries of the South China Sea, namely, Vietnam, Taiwan, Myanmar, Indonesia, and Malaysia against Chinese aggression in the region.”
Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap urged Pres. Duterte to “pay a visit to Vietnam, Taiwan, Myanmar, Indonesia, and Malaysia to establish fraternal relations against China and garner broad international support in the process.”
He said “through unity within the claimant countries can we only put international pressure on China to end its encroachment of territories.”
Hicap said it would be “more productive to rally claimant countries against Chinese territorial intervention than the repeated state visits to China that only wasted billions of taxpayers’ money and paved the way for unfair economic and trade agreements that do not benefit the Filipino people,”
The group lambasted the proposal for a Philippines-China joint oil and gas exploration in Recto Bank which is already covered by terms of reference (TOR), and was one of the main agenda of the 5th and longest visit of Duterte to China.
