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OFFICE OF CONGRESSMAN GARY ALEJANO

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rm. S-611 * 931 5210

SOLON PUSHES FOR THE IMMEDIATE NEUTRALIZATION OF INCOMING


CHINESE BASES WITHIN THE PHILIPPINE EEZ
PRESS RELEASE
March 12, 2015
Batasan Hills, Quezon City Former Marine Captain and now MAGDALO Party-List
Representative Gary Alejano has called for the immediate neutralization of Chinese reclamation
projects within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) saying that if the projects are
finished, we might wake up next year with significant parts of our maritime territory already
fully occupied and unredeemable because Chinese air and naval bases have already been
established near our coastlines. He said that we dont want a situation where we will be strangers
to our own terrains all because we just stood watching China expand within our territories.
In recent months, China has ramped up construction on reefs and islets, deployed more patrol
vessels within the Philippines EEZ in the West Philippine Sea.
While it is true that maximum restraint must be observed whenever practicable and that the legal
route is the most durable approach to defending our sovereignty, Cong. Gary believes that the
present circumstances confronting us warrant a more aggressive and definitive posture by
increasing and reinforcing our military presence and using available technologies in areas which
China have stealthily-encroached upon. He also noted that the case before the arbitral tribunal
which the Philippines has filed, will take three to four years to be decided.
We must show China that we are not mere push overs in our own territory. We must show them
that we are ready to die for what believe is rightfully ours. These ongoing Chinese constructions
will soon be equipped with missiles and fighter planes aimed at us and can easily destroy our
existing military structures. Why wait for China to lay down all their artilleries and bombs at our
own doorsteps which serve no other purpose but to threaten or destroy us when they deem it
necessary, Cong. Gary said.
Our presently positioned warships like the BRP Sierra Madre in the Ayungin Shoal, if we may
still call it a warship, are without a doubt, an insufficient defense structure. We dont even know
what is going on in these areas right now. We need to send and station more naval vessels and fly
more frequently over these areas to monitor and prevent, or if not prevent, at least make it
difficult for China to continue building structures. Our mutual defense agreement with the US
may be used for this purpose, he added.
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