Three presidential candidates said on Thursday that China had no rights on the Ayungin bench, after the government rejected a Chinese request to withdraw the BRP from the Sierra Madre to the region’s soil. A 2016 ruling by a UN tribunal rejected China’s broad claims to the region, which is part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, said presidential candidate Vice President Leni Robredo. “The facts are not debatable. It is not subject to opinion because there is already a decision, ”she said in Filipino in an interview with ABS-CBN. Filipinos, she said, should take advantage of the exclusive use of the resources there. Aspiring to the presidency, Senator Panfilo Lacson, said he doubted there was any commitment, as China claims, to remove the stranded ship. “I don’t think there was an agreement and I couldn’t imagine that the Philippine government, let alone the Foreign Ministry, would make a deal to withdraw the Sierra Madre,” Lacson said. “We have troops there. It’s really ours,” he said. The Navy ship Sierra Madre was intentionally beached at Ayungin Shoal in 1999 to bolster Manila’s sovereignty claims in the Spratly Archipelago. Some 195 kilometers from Palawan, the shoal is home to a small contingent of Marines aboard the rusty Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Wednesday rejected China’s claim that the Philippines has pledged to remove the stranded ship. “If there had been a commitment it would have been withdrawn a long time ago,” he said. Thursday insisted that the Ayungin Shoal is part of the country’s maritime territory, as claimed in the 2016 arbitral award issued by the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration. All this to the Marines. It’s ours. Our fishermen must fish in the West Philippine Sea. It’s ours historically, technically, and the world agrees with us. We own it by virtue of the Hague decision, ”said Moreno. The presidential candidate Aksyon Demokratiko said that if the opportunity arose, he would send “all our fishermen” to the West Philippine Sea with all the resources of the Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard to protect them. Moreno also warned that he would do what Indonesia frontman Joko Widodo did if warranted. In 2016, Widodo already held a Cabinet meeting aboard a warship off the Natuna Islands, to take stock of China. Its former Minister of Fisheries chased away and even blew up Chinese fishing boats. Under Widodo’s watch, Indonesia renamed the waters north of the Natuna Islands to the North Natuna Sea, angering China. Indonesia then set up a new military base on the islands and stepped up its regular patrols in the area. “The sauce for the gander is the sauce for the goose. All ships belonging to other countries entering our sovereign jurisdiction will be apprehended. And those ships that have illegally entered our territorial jurisdiction, I will turn the seabed into an aquarium with their sunken ships, ”said Moreno. Moreno lamented the inaction of members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) – even though the court is only mandated to investigate and, if necessary, try those accused of genocide, war crimes, crimes against the humanity and the crime of aggression, and is not involved in territorial disputes. Vice Presidential candidate Senator Francis Pangilinan said the Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea should be defended as it is vital for the country’s food security. Pangilinan said he had already tabled a resolution in the Senate calling for an investigation into the possible implication of China’s continuing harassment on the livelihoods of Filipino fishermen. “This is a matter of food security because the West Philippine Sea is a rich, rich source of fish. In fact, the fish that we import from China come from there, ”Pangilinan said.