By Wilnard Bacelonia
MANILA – Sen. Erwin Tulfo on Wednesday backed Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.’s pushback against a Chinese note handed to him while he was speaking at a defense forum in Seoul, South Korea, saying the act was improper.
“Ay tama lang yun (That was just right). That’s the right thing to do,” Tulfo said in a chance interview.
Teodoro was at the Seoul Defense Dialogue on Tuesday when a note defending China’s rejection of the 2016 arbitral ruling on the South China Sea was passed to him while he was answering a question at the forum. Forum organizers traced the note to a Chinese military attaché with the Chinese Embassy in Seoul.
The defense chief read portions of the note aloud before rejecting Beijing’s position, saying China refuses to recognize the arbitral award because “you lost.” He also described the gesture as “coercion, bullying and aggression.”
Asked if he viewed the incident as discourteous, Tulfo said: “Definitely, definitely. They shouldn’t have done that.”
The senator said he would also have stood his ground had he been in Teodoro’s position.
“Eh buti hindi ako kasama doon. Magkakaproblema po tayo (It’s a good thing I was not there. We would have had a problem),” Tulfo said.
Tulfo said Filipino officials should not allow such actions to pass without a firm response, especially in an international forum where the Philippines’ maritime position is being challenged.
The 2016 arbitral ruling invalidated China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea and upheld the Philippines’ maritime entitlements, but Beijing has repeatedly refused to recognize the decision.
“But I would really stand up,” Tulfo said.
Teodoro was in Seoul for the Sept. 7 to 9 defense dialogue, where he stressed the importance of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to the Philippines as an archipelagic state. (PNA)
