GORDON LAUDS LOCSIN FOR FILING DIPLOMATIC PROTESTS AGAINST CHINA'S AGGRESSIVENESS AT WEST PHILIPPINE SEA

Senator Richard J. Gordon commended Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Wednesday for filing diplomatic complaints against China's aggression at the disputed West Philippine Sea.

"I commend Secretary Locsin for taking a very important and valiant action by standing up for our rights. He did right by our country, and we support him wholeheartedly," said Gordon.

In a Twitter post on January 27, Locsin wrote that "At 5:17 pm today, the Chinese embassy received two diplomatic protests: 1. On the pointing of a radar gun at a Philippine Navy ship in PH waters & 2. Declaring parts of Philippine territory as part of Hainan province - both violations of international law & Philippine sovereignty."

Gordon has been consistently urging the government to take a firm position on dealing with the maritime dispute between the Philippines and China.

At the Plenary on Tuesday, he raised concern over the enactment of a new Chinese law that allows the Chinese Coast Guard to "take all necessary measures, including the use of weapons when national sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction are being illegally infringed upon by foreign organizations or individuals at sea."

"When another country claims the oceans surrounding us, which we claim, even threatens to demolish our fishing boats or fishing boats of any country that get to that ocean or that sea, this is a serious cause for concern. This is a shot in the bow of all the claimants in the territories," said Gordon.