MANILA, Philippines — Two Senate committees will jointly hold a public hearing to determine how effective the country’s foreign policy is in the face of alarming developments in the West Philippine Sea, particularly China’s military buildup and its harassment of Filipino fishermen.

No date has been set for the hearing to be led by the Senate committees on foreign relations and on national defense and security.

Foreign committee chair Sen. Loren Legarda welcomed the resolutions calling for the hearings, saying the Senate, “as an independent body, should assert our role in helping shape the government’s foreign policy.”

Sen. Gregorio Honasan chairs the national defense and security committee.

“We will soon conduct a public hearing and I will work with my colleagues, including the committee on national defense and security, in determining how best to support current initiatives to diffuse the tension, while at the same time protecting our sovereignty and territorial rights,” Legarda said in a statement.

“I maintain the view that diplomacy plays a key role in finding long-term and durable solutions to the West Philippine Sea issue,” she said.

Honasan said while the government is exhausting all diplomatic options to resolve its dispute with China, it should also consider taking part in joint military exercises with the US and other allies to show its solidarity with other nations against militarization and other provocative acts in the region.

He stressed joint military exercises were not meant to provoke hostilities but simply to show China the international community does not tolerate “abuse.”

He cited reports of China’s “aggressive” and “inflammatory” deployment of nuclear-capable bombers, fighter jets and missile systems to some islands in the Paracels and Spratlys, some of which are claimed by the Philippines.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros earlier called for a “foreign policy audit” in the light of China’s continued militarization of the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon dared foreign affairs chief Alan Peter Cayetano to disclose to the public the 100 or so protests that the latter claimed to have filed against China.

In Bacolod City, Vice President Leni Robredo has appealed to the nation, especially its leaders, to take a tougher stand against China’s provocations.

“Why do we have to seek permission from China for Filipino fishermen to engage in fishing activities in an area that belongs to the Philippines? Why are they saying the Philippines’ request should be granted out of ‘goodwill’ when it has already been ruled by the international arbitration tribunal that the area belongs to the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone?” Robredo said in remarks during an event at the Diocese of Bacolod on Thursday.

“We’re not waging war. Protesting doesn’t mean going to war; it’s just fighting for our rights,” she said in Filipino. “How can other nations help us when we cannot fight for what is ours?”

Secret backers

In Zambales, members of a militant group of fishermen have accused the military’s Northern Luzon Command of using their supposed dialogue to talk them out of opposing or condemning Chinese bullying in the West Philippine Sea.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said its members felt the supposed dialogue last Thursday was “a way to pacify the anger and intimidate the fisherfolk from standing against Chinese harassment.”

In an earlier statement, Nolcom commander Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Salamat said the “forum aims to promote safety of life at sea, raise awareness among our countrymen and promote sovereignty over our maritime areas in Northern Luzon.”

But based on how the meeting unfolded, Pamalakaya said Nolcom “seemed to have been commissioned by China to smoothly facilitate their (Chinese) intervention in the country.” The fishermen’s group did not give details, however, to back its claim.

“Nolcom’s job is to guard our sovereignty against any foreign aggressor as mandated by the Constitution, not to create fear and coerce Filipino fishers,” Pamalakaya said.

“Like Malacañang, the Armed Forces of the Philippines seemed to have been commissioned by China to smoothly facilitate their intervention in the country,” said Pamalakaya chairman Fernando Hicap.

It also accused presidential spokesman Harry Roque of using fishermen “to justify and cover up the Duterte government’s subservience to China and neglect in defending the West Philippine Sea” when he arranged for a group of fishermen to be presented to the media at Malacañang.

“What Roque did in presenting Zambales fishers harassed by Chinese coast guards was nothing but to whitewash the incident. He wanted to make it appear that Filipino fishers prefer the present situation wherein they are able to fish in the area unlike before,” Pamalakaya said.

“But the West Philippine Sea is indisputably ours in every aspect and we don’t have to ask for the consent of anyone in order to fish there,” it added.

“Roque obviously wanted to cover up the incompetence of the Duterte government to resolve the sea row and justify its servitude to China which aggressively grabs our marine territory,” Hicap said. Critics said the Palace briefing with fishermen appeared staged or designed to downplay an incident last May where the Chinese seized a significant portion of the catch of Filipino fishermen at the Panatag Shoal.

Navy Commodore Nichols Driz, commander of the Naval Forces North Luzon (NFNL), said not all fishermen were complaining about being forced by the Chinese to part with their catch.

He said closer interaction among the fishermen and other concerned government agencies like the Philippine Navy, Coast Guard, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and local government units (LGUs) would help in crafting ways to better address the concerns of local fishermen.

Rolly Bernal, a leader of a fishing group, said he hopes better relations with China would give them unrestricted access to Panatag Shoal.

Other problems fishermen had to deal with, he said, are illegal fishing practices like dynamite fishing, poaching and destruction of corals.

Roseller Latagen, 50, said Chinese coast guards would take as much as P3,000 worth of their fish catch in exchange for two small bottles of water.

Latagen said they are only allowed to fish near Panatag Shoal for two to three months in a year while Chinese fishermen, who even destroy corals, are allowed to fish all year round. As a result, they are forced to just fish near the coast where their catch is just enough to feed their family.

The same concern was raised by 72-year-old Angelico Pilon, who could only hope the government would step in to help them regain access to Panatag Shoal.

Floro Delegencia, another fisherman from Masinloc, narrated an incident where a group of Chinese boarded their vessel to get some fish in exchange for bottles of beer and cigarettes. – With Ding Cervantes, Bebot Sison Jr., Gilbert Bayoran