MANILA, Philippines – UMAASA si Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr. na maisasapinal na ang Code of Conduct sa South China Sea sa 2026 kapag ang Pilipinas ay umakto bilang chairman at host ng Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits and Related Summits.
Sa isang media interview sa Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, sinabi ng Pangulo na kumpiyansa siya na ang years-long effort para isapinal ang dokumento na gagabay sa aksyon sa South China Sea ay magbubunga na sa susunod na taon.
“How confident am I? Well, earlier I said that at heart I’m an optimist. And that’s really my view and we cannot give up. We cannot say that oh there’s no hope and we cannot – nothing’s happening, we cannot move forward, we cannot resolve this thing,” ang sinabi ni Pangulong Marcos.
“Once we’ve done that, we failed. And we cannot fail because we have to find the way forward, we have to find a better way of dealing with these things. It would be a failure to the duties that we took an oath to protect and defend the Philippines and its people,” aniya pa rin.
Napaulat na nagkasundo ang member-states ng ASEAN at China na kumpletuhin na ang Code of Conduct sa South China Sea (SCS) pagsapit ng 2026, sa kabila ng mga isyu na nagdulot ng pagkaantala sa paglikha rito, ayon sa Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
May mga isyu pa na kailangang mapagkasunduan ng lahat ng bansa para makumpleto ang Code of Conduct.
Tanggap naman ni Pangulong Marcos na ang pagsasapinal ng Code of Conduct ay “not an easy process,” subalit ipagpapatuloy nila ang pagsisikap na magkaroon ng solusyon sa tensyon sa malawak na katubigan.
“We just keep trying. If this doesn’t work, we’ll try something else. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try something else. But we cannot stop. We must continue and continue and continue until we find the solution,” ani niya.
At sa tanong kung imbitado si Chinese President Xi Jinping para sa paglagda sa Code of Conduct, ang tugon ng Pangulo ay: “I will certainly invite him, and I would make all of the efforts available.”
“If we get to that point where President Xi will actually consider coming to the Philippines, it would mean that we have made significant progress. And that would be a great thing, that would be just a great thing,” aniya pa rin.
Nauna rito, tinurn over na ng Malaysia ang chairmanship ng ASEAN Summit and Related Summits for 2026 sa Pilipinas.
Sinabi ni Pangulong Marcos na handa na ang Pilipinas na i-assume ang chairmanship ng regional bloc at maging host ng corresponding ministerial summit sa 2026 na may pokus sa “practical, inclusive, at measurable initiatives.” (Kris Jose)
