MANILA --  President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said the Philippines would send a note verbale to China to clarify the conflicting statements by the China Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy following a recent incident near Pag-asa Island.

“Yes, I think that that’s what we need to do because…  when it was first reported to me by the Chief of Staff, I asked him to immediately call his… the Philippine, the military attaché in the Chinese embassy and to get a report,” President Marcos said to reporters in an interview Tuesday.

National Security Adviser Secretary Clarita Carlos recommended sending China a note verbale regarding the incident.

“And hindi nagtugma ‘yung report ng Philippine Navy at saka ‘yung report na galing sa China because the word ‘forcibly’ was used in the Navy – in the Philippine Navy report. And that was not the characterization in the Chinese Navy report or the report coming from China. So we have to resolve this issue,” the President pointed out.

The President said he has complete trust in the Philippine Navy and believes its account of the incident, noting he wants to know why China’s version of the events is different from the Philippine Navy’s report.

“So we’ll have to find a way to resolve this. This is one of the things, this kind of incidents are some of the things that I’m glad that I’m going to Beijing early January because these are the things that we need to work out,” Marcos said.

“Because with the way that the region, our region, Asia-Pacific, is heating up, baka may magkamali lang, may mistake, may misunderstanding then lalaki ‘yung sunog,” Marcos said.

The chief executive said he doesn’t want miscalculations to happen, so he wants to have a mechanism that will prevent such incidents from happening. (PND)