WPS Advocacy Group lead convenor Wennie Sancho, in a meeting Tuesday, together with leaders from multi-sectoral groups, prior to the celebration of the 126th Independence Day anniversary, condemned in the strongest possible terms, the massive aggression, harassment, intimidation and other despicable acts committed by China against the Filipino people in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), said a press release from the group.
These manifestations of inhuman and barbaric behavior are crimes committed by China against the people of the Philippines within our territorial waters. Hence, the formation of the Negros-WPS Advocacy Group to oppose the territorial expansion of China, it added.
It is unfortunate that the commemoration of our Independence Day is being obscured by terrible events of Chinese incursion into our territories in the WPS.
This is an outright violation of our sovereignty as a nation and as a people as validated by a 2016 Arbitral Award from the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) under the United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) declaring that the nine-dash-line of China was invalid.
No nation can be proud of itself, and expect the respect from the international community if these acts of intrusion by China into our territory would be tolerated, particularly the plunder of our maritime wealth and preventing our fishermen from fishing into our traditional fishing grounds.
Today, we are in a time of great danger. The life of our nation is in peril of losing our patrimony as democracy was mortally wounded at the doorstep of sacred shores.
We must protect our land, its borders and territories to prevent the territorial expansion of China, the most dangerous enemy of democracy, the statement continued.
This is a challenge from Negros WPS Advocacy Group.
Obviously, a mockery of justice was committed here when China violated our sovereign rights by conducting several massive reclamation projects, by turning submerged reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military structures and equipment. This grave injustice must be rectified, otherwise the declaration of our inherent and inalienable rights as a free and independent nation today would be in vain. How can we declare our sovereignty when our sea is surrounded by an armada of Chinese ships set in a battle array? This is a transgression of our constitutional rights as a sovereign state.
We must face the challenge rather than be a coward. We must awaken the public consciousness, by raising our voice and shout loudly to the world, to stop China’s despicable acts in the WPS and their penchant in spreading many lies and deceptions to hide the truth of their real motive in the WPS, which is rich in natural gas resources and a vital trade route for international cargo ships.
“Awake my countrymen! Let us raise high the Philippine flag and the torch of nationalism. We shall never allow our voices of protest against China to be muffled. This is a cause worth dying for. We shall adopt a solid stand as a Filipino, in the face of overwhelming odds. Our hope for freedom shall remain strong. This is the land of our birth and the home of our people bequeathed to us by our forebears, sprinkled by the blood of our heroes who had offered their lives as the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our sovereignty.”
Negros WPS Advocacy Group needs the support of Negrenses.
This is not a call to arms. This is a call to the conscience of all freedom loving Filipinos to assert our sovereignty, to stand up and be counted in our struggle to restore our honor and dignity as a people.
The annoying, irritating and unsettling presence of Chinese maritime forces in the WPS is an injustice to the Filipino people, exacerbated by their arrogance of bullying and telling us what to do and where to go, making us aliens in our country. Let us tell them that we are ready to die for the Philippines because it belongs to us, the press statement concluded.*
