Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has directed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) not to disclose anything about the content of the two diplomatic protests filed by the Philippines against China, saying the documents are “strictly confidential”. “@DFAPHL we worked on this the whole day. And that is all will be said on it because diplomatic notes are strictly confidential between the two state parties. Period,” the foreign affairs chief said in a tweet late Wednesday night. Locsin was referring to the diplomatic protests lodged at the Chinese Embassy in Manila on Wednesday relating to China’s two recent aggressive actions in the South China Sea — the pointing of a radar gun at a Philippine Navy ship in Philippine waters and declaring parts of the Philippine territory as part of Hainan province. These, he said, are “violations of international law and Philippine sovereignty.”

Mabasa, R. C. (2020, April 24). Content of PH protest notes vs China ‘strictly confidential’. Tempo, p. 3.