Pimentel lauds aborted 2016 plan to send Navy in Panatag Shoal

Senator Koko Pimentel commended Friday government’s decision to cancel plans to send the Philippine Navy in the Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) after The Hague ruling in 2016 as President Rodrigo Duterte ordered a soft-landing approach on the issue to avoid offending China.

For Pimentel, Duterte’s reported directive was a “good call.”

“For me it was a good call. Otherwise, tensions might have escalated to beyond a controllable point,” the senator told reporters in a text message.

“Since we just won the arbitration case, then a military deployment to the area being contested might add fuel to the fire and might have the effect of rubbing salt to an open wound,” Pimentel said.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana revealed forum hosted by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung on Friday that he planned to deploy a contingent of the Philippine Navy to the shoal after a ruling of the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration favored the country on its claims over the South China Sea.

But he said he decided to call off the deployment after Duterte warned his Cabinet members at that time against offending China.

READ: Lorenzana bares junked plan to retake Panatag Shoal after 2016 ruling

Pimentel said it was an “understandable judgement call” on the part of Duterte to show “magnanimity in victory” and not do anything that China might misinterpret as a provocation or attempt to enforce the decision.  /kga

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