Dispatch from Crame No. 543:
Sen. Leila M. de Lima on the proposed joint investigation on the Recto Bank incident

6/24/19

I join my colleagues Sens. Drilon, Pangilinan, Trillanes, Hontiveros, and Lacson in rejecting the plan of the Duterte Administration to resolve the issues surrounding the Recto Bank incident via a joint investigation by Philippines and China.

This is an outright abandonment of our jurisdiction over the crimes committed by the Chinese vessel during the incident. Recto Bank is within our EEZ and thus within the ambit of the Philippine Fisheries Code. A joint investigation is also an abandonment of our sovereignty because it amounts to a refusal to exercise our exclusive authority over our fisheries resources in Recto Bank.

After the Duterte administration's orchestrated response to downplay the incident and to silence the crew of FB Gem Ver 1, this joint investigation is simply the logical step to a whitewash. "Mutually recognized results" supposed to be arrived at in the joint probe means a "lutong macao" to be cooked up by both the Duterte administration and China.

Bahag na bahag na ang buntot ng gobyernong Duterte sa China, para gantihan ang pag-atake sa ating mga mangingisda hindi lamang ng pagbabale-wala sa krimeng ginawa, kung hindi pati na rin ang pagsuko ng ating soberenya sa pagpapatupad ng sarili nating mga batas.

Ang Recto Bank ay nasa ating sinasakupang economic zone sa ilalim ng UNCLOS. Walang papel ang China sa pagpapatupad ng ating mga batas dito. Ang China at ang kanyang mga bapor na pangingisda at militia, kasama na ang mga "artificial islands" at mga pasilidad na itinayo nila, ay mga ilegal sa karagatang ito.

To give China an equal role in the investigation of a crime committed within our jurisdiction, by a boat of the maritime militia organized by China precisely to commit such crimes, can be considered the height of stupidity, if only we were not already aware that treason is what actually motivates the Duterte administration in making China a part of the Recto Bank investigation.

Isa na naman itong kataksilan sa mahabang listahan ng pagtatraydor ni Duterte sa Sambayanang Pilipino.

(Access the handwritten copy of Dispatch from Crame No. 543 here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_from_crame_no._543)