Despite the fact that many have tried to spin the maritime incident involving Chinese fishing vessel Yuemaobinyu 42212 ramming Filipino fishing boat Gem-Ver 1 near Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea – the issue still won’t fade into the night. And rightfully so. Even as I commended the president for trying to take a diplomatic tack when it came to addressing the maritime incident with the Chinese, I still think he needs to consider both the Filipinos involved in the sinking and the Philippines in general. First of all – I believe he waited too long before finally making a statement. I understand wanting to get all the facts right before saying anything (something that President Duterte doesn’t normally do actually), but a week to respond to an international incident is far too long.

Katigbak, T. F. (2019, June 25). We need to stop putting China first. The Philippine Star, p. 10.