Use water cannons vs. China too? Tolentino says it's up to the President

For Senator Francis Tolentino, retaliating China's aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) by also using water cannons would need the President's go-signal.

He issued the remark amid suggestions from fellow senators to use water cannons too following a series of incidents in the WPS.

"[That is] subject to presidential directive. Siguro taking into consideration other factors, 'di madaling desisyunan ‘yan, kung 'yun ang gusto ninyo na (that is not an easy decision if you really want) an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," Tolentino said in a virtual interview Friday.

"We are going to pivot to something that is drastic. Siguro dapat may presidential approval din 'yan para sa ganoon alam din natin 'yung diplomatic responses, 'yung other consequences. Kasi 'yung sa kanila, sa China, state action na 'yan... 'Di 'yun desisyon lang ng commander nung vessel nila. May approval 'yan na 'yan ang dapat gawin," he explained.

(There should be a presidential approval so we will already know the diplomatic response, other consequences. Because on the part of China, that is already a state action. That is not the sole decision of the commander of the vessel. They have an approval to do that.)

Asked if President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. should consider this, Tolentino said, "We leave that to the President kung anong tamang gawin (to do what is right) and we trust that he will do the proper actions."

While he said that the Philippine vessels could do that too, the senator warned that retaliating against China using water cannons might escalate the tension in the WPS even more.

"They might escalate into something greater than water cannon. Di umubra 'yung kanilang laser…so napunta sa water cannoning. So baka mag-escalate naman sila ng iba, flares baka gawin nila 'yun (They already used laser, it had no effect so they resorted to water cannoning. They might escalate it, they might use flares next)," he said.

GMA News Online reached out to Malacañang for comment on Tolentino's remarks but it has yet to reply as of posting time.

Tolentino reiterated the need to beef up both the military and civil defense of the Philippines to protect the WPS and that it should include the mandatory Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program.

Among the senators that suggested the use of water cannons to counter China's attack were Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III and Senator Robin Padilla.

"Do our PCG vessels have their own water cannons? Dapat meron din (We should also have it). Because we should be able to water cannon too those who we believe are violating our laws and sovereign rights up to our EEZ," Pimentel recently said.

Last Tuesday, the Philippine Coast Guard said Chinese Coast vessels fired water cannons at Philippine civilian vessels en route to Bajo de Masinloc.

China’s water attacks caused damage to Philippine vessels.

The Philippine Navy on Wednesday said not only 100 but around 1,000 civilian boats should be deployed in the WPS to match the number of Chinese maritime militia vessels in the area.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce. Its territorial claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Parts of the waters within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone have been renamed as West Philippine Sea (WPS).

In 2016, an international arbitration tribunal in the Hague said China's claims had no legal basis, a decision Beijing has rejected.—AOL, GMA Integrated News