Adi Joaquim Tolentino

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos asked his fellow Southeast Asian leaders for their aid to prevent China’s aggressive actions and harassment in the West Philippine Sea.

Photo Courtesy of EFE/AISAT/ASEAN.org.

During his intervention on October 10-11 at the 27th ASEAN-China Summit in Vientiane, Laos, Marcos made numerous statements about the WPS conflict, stating that the current situation “remains tense and unchanged.”

“We continue to be subjected to harassment and intimidation,” Marcos said.

He expressed China’s actions as lacking respect for international law, specifically the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 1972 Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS).

The chief executive called to adopt measures to stop China’s aggressive acts.

“Such behavior is not unnoticed by our respective publics and the international community as well. That they will require a concerted and urgent effort to adopt measures to prevent their recurrence,” he reiterated.

Marcos also noted that “more than half” of the ASEAN offered help to the Philippines to stop the continued harassment.

"At some point, there are many offers of help, they say if that is the problem, maybe we could do this, maybe our country send vessels, maybe we could have joint operations... all these offers which could not come if we did not make our position clear. I explain to them what the present situation is," the President said.

As the number of countries that offered help is not revealed by Marcos, he has assured there are continued discussions of offers of joint exercises.

Marcos also called the Code of Conduct (COC) binding of the ASEAN states to progress amid conflict.

“It is time that we tackle these milestone issues directly so we can make substantive progress moving forward,” the president said.

Marcos also mentioned that it is urgent to negotiate in the COC to reduce tensions and manage differences among maritime disputes.

Before this intervention, the China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels used water cannons again on October 8, to disrupt the resupply mission to Filipino ships in Scarborough Shoal. 

The CCG also attacked the BRP-Teresa Magbanua, the biggest ship by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), by repeatedly ramming into it on August 31.