The Duterte administration’s position to blame the past Aquino administration for the problems in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) does not hold merit because the arbitral ruling was awarded during President Duterte’s time, the camp of Vice President Leni Robredo said on Sunday, May 2.
The arbitral ruling by The Hague in The Netherlands was awarded in July 2016 when the President already holds office.
“So ang tanong: ano magagawa natin ngayon, di ba? Iyon ‘yun eh. At sa akin, hindi sagot iyong eh kasalanan niyan ng dati (The question is: what can we do now, right? That’s it. For me, blaming the past is not the answer),” Vice presidential spokesman Barry Gutierrez during Robredo’s weekly radio show.
“Sa dulo lumabas iyong desisyon na panig sa atin, sa arbitral tribunal. Noong 2016 pagkatapos ng eleksyon, si Pangulo Duterte na ang nakaupo (In the end, the decision of the arbitral tribunal sided with us. Last 2016 after the elections, President Duterte already assumed office),” he added.
Gutierrez, a lawyer, also questioned the present administration’s “weak” stance on Chinese vessels' incursion in the WPS.
The spokesperson lamented that countries from the European Union and the United States are asserting the victory in holding China to account for its expansionist activities in the territorial waters, which that the Duterte administration has failed to do.
“Bakit tayo mismo na tayo nagsampa ng kaso parang medyo malamya ‘yung ating sitwasyon diyan? (Why is it that we are the ones who filed the case but we have a weak stand in the situation there?),” he asked.
Critics of the President have spoken out against his defeatist stance against China’s repeated incursions in the waters it claims as its own.
Duterte repeatedly said that the Philippines cannot afford to go to war with China even as international law, foreign policy, and diplomacy experts told him that asserting the arbitral ruling does not need to lead to war.
Instead, calling on China to follow the ruling filed under the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which Beijing is a signatory of, will put the country’s reputation in question before the international community.
But Duterte insisted that the country has already “lost” to China because of the failure of the Aquino administration to hold on to Scarborough Shoal (Panatag Shoal) during a military standoff in 2012.
This accusation came even though it was former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and former President Benigno Aquino III who took the case to the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) and was eventually awarded the ruling in 2016 after Duterte took over Malacanang.
Gutierrez lamented that instead of the present administration focusing on what it can do to stop China’s activities in the WPS, it insists on playing the blame game.
“Kasi ang China ‘yung nanghihimasok eh. Bakit parang tayo-tayo ‘yung nagbabangayan at nagsisihan dito? (Because it’s China that’s intruding. Why are we arguing and pointing fingers here?),” he asked.