PRESIDENT Duterte on Wednesday reassured the public he will not give an inch of the country’s territory to China, or compromise the country’s sovereignty, even if it owes China a debt of gratitude for COVID-19 vaccines it gave the Philippines.
China has donated a million doses of vaccines made by the Chinese private firm Sinovac Biotech to the Philippines, and government is buying 25 million doses more.
“I’m stating it for the record, we do not want war with China. China is a good friend.
Mayroon tayong utang na loob na marami, pati iyong bakuna natin (We owe them a debt of gratitude and even our vaccines)… But there are things which are not really subject to a compromise,” he said on Wednesday night in his weekly address.
Duterte said he hopes China would understand that he needs to protect the interests of the country and he cannot compromise on the Philippines’ sovereign rights.
The President said the country would continue to monitor what is happening in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). He directed the Philippine vessels patrolling disputed waters to stay even if it comes to the point that the Chinese would ask them to leave.
He said the country would wait and see how the Chinese will act.
The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea reported the other day that five Chinese Coast Guard ships were seen at the Bajo de Masinloc, the waters of Kalayaan town in Palawan, and Ayungin Shoal.
China on Monday asked the Philippines to stop the exercises being conducted by the Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources at the West Philippine Sea.
Duterte also said the Philippines will not rely or wait for the United States to act or assist the Philippines in its dispute with China, as it should have already happened during the standoff at the Scarborough Shoal.
Retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said Filipinos deserve and should demand a President who loves the country first and is willing to stand for its sovereignty and sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea amid the continued presence of Chinese vessels in the area.
Carpio made the statement in response to President Duterte’s tirade Wednesday night, when he lambasted Carpio and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario. Duterte said it was during their time that China took control of Scarborough Shoal.
Carpio said that despite him not being part of the Executive department, he recommended that the government bring its case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration following the 2012 seizure of the Scarborough or Panatag shoal, to assail the basis of the latter’s nine-dash line claim. He said the Aquino administration agreed and filed the arbitration case in January 2013.
In July 2016, the arbitral tribunal ruled in favor of Manila and debunked Beijing’s massive claim in the disputed waters.
“Unfortunately, President Duterte, who had assumed office by then, announced that he was `setting aside’ the arbitral award in favor of seeking loans and investments from China amounting to $22 billion.Today, less than 5 percent of those loans and investments have materialized even as President Duterte is already leaving office next year,” Carpio said.
Worse, he said, Duterte allowed China to fish in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone despite admitting that there is not enough fish stock there for both Filipino and Chinese fishermen.
“We even import `galunggong’ now from China, the same galunggong that Chinese fishermen take in the West Philippine Sea,” he said. — With Ashzel Hachero
