Lorenzana on Sandy Cay: It is still ours

FILE: Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana denied that the Philippines lost its control over Sandy Cay, a cluster of three sandbars near Pag-asa (Thitu) Island in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), to Beijing. (Photo: Department of National Defense – Philippines/Facebook)

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana denied that the Philippines has lost its control over Sandy Cay, a cluster of three sandbars near Pag-asa (Thitu) Island in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), to Beijing.

In an interview with reporters on Thursday, June 7, the Defense chief said, “Nothing is lost there because nobody is occupying Sandy Cay, nobody.”

Asked whether China has control over the three sandbars located between Philippine-held Pag-asa Island and Chinese-occupied Subi Reef, Lorenzana replied, “No. It’s still ours.”

He stressed that Filipinos can even go to the sandbars on day trips.

“Punta ka dun, maligo ka (You go there, have a swim) then come back, basta (just) no occupation,” the Defense Secretary said.

It can be recalled that Magdalo party-list Representative Gary Alejano, on May 29, claimed that the Philippines ‘effectively’ lost its control over Sandy Cay under President Rodrigo Duterte’s incumbency.

According to the lawmaker, since August 2017, Chinese coast guard vessels and militia fishing boats are positioned near Sandy Cay 24 hours a day, “effectively seizing physical control of Sandy Cay.”

“Every time Philippine government vessels patrol Sandy Cay, they are driven away by Chinese coast guard vessels,” Alejano said.

“This could be likened to the situation in Scarborough Shoal in 2012 wherein our fishermen and military forces are prevented from approaching. Since then, China controlled the shoal,” he added.

Former Philippine foreign secretary Albert del Rosario on June 4 echoed Alejano’s statement, saying that the Philippines lost control of Sandy Cay in late 2017 “when President Duterte ordered the cessation of construction there due to vehement reaction from China.”

“Chinese coast guard vessels have since then surrounded Sandy Cay at all times, effectively seizing physical control of Sandy Cay from the Philippines,” del Rosario said.

“I think that a very strong protest then should have been filed,” he continued.

Alejano and del Rosario’s statements came after Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano earlier vowed to quit from his post if critics of the administration could point out which part of the WPS has been lost to China during Duterte’s watch.