Alejano to Cayetano: Duterte's verbal objections don't count as protests vs. China

Magdalo Party-list Rep. Gary Alejano on Thursday told Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano that verbal objections made by President Rodrigo Duterte do not count as diplomatic protests.

In a statement, Alejano criticized Cayetano for "redefining" what is considered a diplomatic protest to deflect from the government's passiveness on the West Philippine issue.

"Noong una, binabago nila ang kahulugan ng 'human rights.' This time they are redefining 'diplomatic protest' for their convenience. In an attempt to get away from the lack of action of the Duterte administration on the West Philippine Sea issue, they are not altering the definition of diplomatic protest," he said.

During the hearing of the House Special Committee on the West Philippine Sea on Wednesday, Cayetano insisted that the Philippines has been filing "several dozens" of diplomatic protests against China for the past two years. He estimated that they may have filed maybe 50 or 100 protests already, but they have not been announcing it to the media.

Malacañang on Thursday backed Cayetano's pronouncements, saying the Philippines has been filing diplomatic protests.

However, Alejano pointed out that Cayetano later said that not all came in written form, but that verbal objections uttered by the President counted as a diplomatic protest.

“If for Secretary Cayetano simple utterances of words are already considered diplomatic protest, then what is its difference to writing on water? The fact that the public are urging filing of diplomatic protests against illegal actions of China in the West Philippine Sea underscores the seriousness of the matter. Do you expect China, which has repeatedly violated our rights in our territory, to comply over small talks and lists?” Alejano said.

“A diplomatic protest puts on record our stand on a certain matter. It goes without saying that a diplomatic protest must be in written form. A formal written protest will serve as historical records of how we responded to every violation committed to us by other states. Let us not weaken its value,” he added.

Alejandro is among those calling for Cayetano's resignation over his supposed inaction on Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea.

He recently renewed his call for the Philippine government to file a diplomatic protest against China's actions in the disputed territories. —Jessica Bartolome/JST, GMA News