MANILA, Philippines – Nghain ng resolusyon sa Kamara si ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo upang paimbestigahan ang dredging projects na isinasagawa ng Chinese firms sa Manila Bay kasabay ng pangamba na maaaring banta sa seguridad ng bansa ang presensya ng kanilang mga barko sa nasabing lugar.
Nitong Martes, Agosto 8, ay inihain ni Tulfo ang House Resolution No. 1171 earlier, na humihiling sa House Committees on national defense and security, ecology, at iba pang nararapat na panel na busisiin ang reclamation projects sa Manila Bay.
Ang hakbang na ito ng mambabatas ay kasunod ng pakikipag-usap kay House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, na nagtanong kung anong ahensya ang nagmomonitor sa sitwasyon.
Ani Tulfo, nakatanggap umano si Romualdez ng mga report na ang mga manggagawa ay umaalis ng barko at nagpupunta sa mga nightclub na banta sa seguridad kung sila ay miyembro ng Chinese military.
“According to the Speaker last night, he’s wondering who is monitoring Chinese ships in Manila Bay because all of them are Chinese vessels doing the dredging, doing the reclamation. As of the last count, they are almost 100 there; if each ship has 30 personnel, then that’s 3,000 already. The Speaker is wondering who is watching these people, monitoring,” sinabi ni Tulfo.
“The news from the Speaker, what he said was like personnel was going off the vessel at night, so our national security is under threat if these people are members of the People’s Liberation Army? What if they are members of China’s intelligence community, gathering information, videos, and pictures of vital installations? How would we fare?” dagdag pa niya.
Hindi pa malinaw kung paano at kailan nakausap ni Tulfo si Romualdez na kararating lamang mula Jakarta, Indonesia matapos dumalo sa 44th Asian Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) general assembly.
Sinabi naman ni Tulfo na ang mensahe ay inihatid sa kanya sa pamamagitan ni Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizadly Co.
Sinabi pa ni Tulfo na napaka-ironic na ang
China-owned China Communications Construction Co. (CCCC) ang in charge sa dredging at reclamation operations, na siya ring responsable sa pagtatayo ng air at naval bases sa ilang teritoryo ng Pilipinas sa West Philippine Sea na kanilang inaagaw.
Nararapat umano na imbitahan ni Romualdez si Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian para pag-usapan ang isyu.
“This same company was responsible for the building of an air base and naval base of China in the West Philippine Sea, so ironic ‘di ba? And now they are here, nagre-reclamation sila. So how would we monitor na they’re really legitimate construction firm? Kasi they’re owned by the (Chinese) government eh,” anang mambabatas.
“So the Speaker has a point and it would be good if he would ask Ambassador Huang about the solution to this problem […] to talk about this, why there are many ships already, and what we can do,” dagdag pa niya. RNT/JGC
