Pacquiao to form peace panel dedicated for WPS dispute (Sabong News)
Author
Joseph Pedrajas
Date
MARCH 29 2022
Presidential candidate Senator Manny Pacquiao said he will create a special panel that would ensure a peaceful and dignified resolution of the country’s dispute with China over the West Philippine Sea (WPS) should he win in the upcoming election.
Pacquiao said China’s claim over the Panatag Shoal as part of its territory must be exhaustively discussed by experts tapped by the Philippine government.
“‘Yan ang paguusapan natin ng matindi kaya sinasabi ko bubuo tayo ng peace panel para mag focus diyan (That’s what we will extensively talk about, that’s why I said we will create a peace panel to focus on that),” Pacquiao told reporters in an ambush interview during his Tuesday’s campaign sortie in Quezon City.
His pronouncement came following the recent close distance maneuvering of the Chinese vessel in the disputed sea which constrained the maneuvering space of the country’s own vessel.
Previously, the lawmaker declared his full support to the 2016 ruling of the international tribunal in The Hague, which favored the Philippines in its bid to invalidate China’s nine-dash claim over vast areas in the WPS.
But the aspiring president also remains hopeful that a peaceful resolution of the dispute will still be agreed by the two countries.
