MANILA, Feb. 7 (PNA) — Leaders of the House of Representatives expressed their full support to the call made by President Benigno S. Aquino III to various leaders around the world to join the Philippines in opposing China’s encroachment of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
“Definitely we are in full support of President Aquino in respect to our claims on the West Philippine Sea. We will defend our rights of course,” said Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. in a chance interview.
Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr., who heads the House committee on games and amusement, expressed belief that “there is similarity between what happened in the World War II and what China is doing to the Philippines right now.”
“China is already using its power and might by exercising acts of dominion over the disputed West Philippine Sea.
“It is about time that powerful nations should support the Philippines and settle the issue of ownership over the West Philippine Sea in a very peaceful manner applying international laws. We should not go back to the practiceduring the barbaric times that lands are acquired by conquests of powerful kingdoms. The President made the right analogy based on history,” Barzaga said in a separate interview.
Marikina City Rep. Marcelino Teodoro, chairman of the House committee on legislative franchise, for his part, said President Aquino was right to compare China’s efforts to claim a huge portion of the West Philippine Sea with those of Nazi Germany.
“I fully support the President’s statement towards China. Truth be told, they (China officials) are acting like (Adolf) Hitler by reinforcing their military forces in surrounding disputed islands, not to mention their unyielding attitude towards the UN (United Nations) process in resolving the West Philippine Sea dispute,” said Teodoro in a phone interview.
“President Aquino’s statements reverberate the sentiments of Filipinos that we are against the dictatorship of China by threatening and using force against the Philippines instead of adhering to our bilateral relations and to the rule of international law,” he pointed out.
President Aquino, in an interview with The New York Times, has compared China’s claim on the West Philippine Sea to the Hitler philosophy — referring to the failure by Western nations to back Czechoslovakia when Adolf Hitler-led Nazi Germany occupied western parts of the European nation in 1938 ahead of World War II.
Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., in a Palace briefing on Thursday, said that at any rate, the President was entitled to voice out what he wanted.
“I don’t think there is any move on our part to explain; the President has the right to express his views to journalists,” he said. (source: Philiippine News Agency)
