Lawmakers back intl check on Panatag Shoal

Source: The Manila times

MANILA, Philippines -- Lawmakers at the House of Representatives threw their weight behind an independent inspection of Panatag or Scarborough Shoal to determine whether it has suffered environmental destruction.

National Security Council spokesman Jonathan Malaya called on China to allow an international inspection of the shoal.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Lanao del Norte 1st District Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo said that "[because] President [Ferdinand] Bongbong Marcos has been successful in creating a tripartite agreement with the United States and Japan. I hope they can come in and we together can find an independent group to see how China is conducting itself because this is not only the concern of the Philippines, this is also the concern of the world."

Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong agreed that the matter was not a concern of just the Philippines or China.

"It concerns environmental protection, environmental justice," Adiong said.

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"So we just hope our counterpart, the Chinese, will finally realize that they don't own the world," he said.

Bataan 1st District Rep. Geraldine Roman said the Philippines should call upon its allies "to help us pursue what is right and just."