00:00We can see that Filipinos are uniting and everybody is almost agreeing, whether by diplomatic means, whether by military presence,
00:10that we need to fight for our sovereignty and our sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea.
00:18And that is a very important thing because I personally think that our friends who have mixed views,
00:28they are banking on the perspective that we Filipinos are in a mess and we are fighting for what is right to do in the West Philippine Sea.
00:44But this survey shows that the majority of Filipinos, 73% if I'm not mistaken,
00:53are uniting to defend and protect our rights in the West Philippine Sea.
01:05And that's a good indicator of how much trust the President and the administration has in pursuing a diplomatic solution.
01:15But at the same time, leveraging, because we can't have a diplomatic solution and we're at the mercy of,
01:22I'll just use the word, a clear bully in this situation.
01:27So we're still pursuing, it's not mutually exclusive.
01:32We're still pursuing the diplomatic challenge.
01:34As you can see, we're always engaging in diplomatic protests.
01:40But at the same time, we're also making sure that we are capable of defending our boundaries, our sovereign rights.
01:49And we could see that with the resolve of our administration,
01:53we are able to reach out to other countries.
01:56And the survey also shows that we should also support our military,
02:02especially in upgrading and strengthening its capabilities,
02:06not just in the West Philippine Sea, but in the entire territory of the Philippines.
02:11There were so many incidents where we were bullied and harassed in our own territory.
02:17So it's normal that this is how our fellow Filipinos feel.
02:21That's why on our end, as members of Congress, budget season is coming up.
02:25We can lobby and we can fight to increase our funding for better surveillance,
02:33budget for our Coast Guard, and other agencies of our government
02:39that need more support so that they can do their duties better.
02:47We don't want war, but it is our right to defend the sovereignty of our country.
02:53That's why some people say that we're small and we can't fight China.
02:59We have fellow Filipinos, like-minded countries who are willing to support our country.
03:04Let's be united to answer these bully countries.
03:10And we don't fight the fights that we can win.
03:13We shouldn't fight where we can only win.
03:16We fight the fight that needs fighting.
03:19We should fight.
03:22Whether we can or not, we should fight.
03:24As long as we have our fellow Filipinos and we're on the right path.
03:27Let's use this to make it a zone of peace.
03:31It shouldn't be an arms race in the West Philippine Sea or the South China Sea,
03:38but a zone of peace.
03:46For more UN videos visit www.un.org
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