PATULOY na ipinapakita ng Pilipinas ang commitment nito sa kapayapaan sa kabila ng hindi pa rin nalulutas na  territorial disputes sa South China Sea (SCS).

Inamin ni Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr. na hindi siya makatulog sa gabi dahil sa usaping ito.

“It (SCS issue) keeps you up at night, it keeps you up in the day, it keeps you up most of the time,” ayon sa Pangulo sa  one-on-one dialogue kasama si World Economic Forum (WEF) president Børge Brende  sa Davos, Switzerland.

“It’s very dynamic. It’s constantly in flux. So, you have to pay attention to it and to make sure that you are at least aware of the present situation so that you’re able to respond properly,” dagdag na wika ni Pangulong Marcos.

Matatandaang, sa naging pagpupulong ni Pangulong Marcos kay Chinese President Xi Jinping sa China nito lamang unang bahagi ng Enero ng kasalukuyang taon, binanggit ng Chief Executive kay Xi ang “long-standing dispute” sa Tsina ukol sa SCS, para sa Pangulo ito ay importanteng isyu na hindi maiiwasang pag-usapan.

Lalabas kasi na hindi niya ginagawa ang kanyang trabaho kapag nabigo siyang banggitin ang usaping ito kay Xi.

“There’s no way to avoid it. We described it in diplomatic language as one part of our relationship. But it is an important and unavoidable issue that we have to ventilate. And we cannot sweep it under the rag and pretend it’s not happening because there are effects not only in the diplomatic sense, not only in the security sense but even in the livelihood of our citizens,” ang wika ng Pangulo.

Nananatili naman ang posisyon ng Punong Ehekutibo na ang tanging paraan para plantsahin ang “maritime row” ay ang isulong ang  mapayapang negosasyon.

Inamin pa rin ng Pangulo na hindi kaya ng Pilipinas na makipag-giyerahan (giyera) sa Beijing.

Aniya, ang Manila ay  nagmamasid lamang bilang “bystander” kapag  mayroong tensyon sa pagitan ng China at Estados Unidos sa tuwing may sasakyang-dagat ang tumatawid sa katubigan.

Kaya nga aniya, ang Pilipinas ay “at the very frontline” sa cross-trade tensions sa pagitan ng Tsina at Estados Unidos.

“We are watching as bystanders. And if something goes wrong here, we are going to suffer. That’s why when asked, ‘What is your foreign policy? How would you describe it?’ I say it’s a commitment to peace and guided very, very closely by our national interest,”ani Pangulong  Marcos.

“Some people say, even within the Philippines, we should do more. I said, ‘What do you want to do? Go to war?’ Nobody wants to go to war. China doesn’t. The United States doesn’t. Just having the tensions increase in the region already has an effect on trade, on all of the exchanges that we have within ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), within the region, with China, with the United States,” litaniya nito. (Daris Jose)