Malacañang has welcomed the Supreme Court's (SC) junking of the latest petition for mandamus against the Duterte administration in connection with the West Philippine Sea (WPS) issue.
"We welcome the decision of the Supreme Court dismissing the petition for mandamus filed against President Rodrigo Roa Duterte," Cabinet Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles said in a statement Wednesday, Nov. 24.
"President Duterte is the chief architect of foreign policy and this is affirmed by the latest decision of the High Court," noted Nograles.
Through the mandamus, the petitioner sought to have SC compel the President to execute laws to protect the WPS from supposed incursions from Chinese vessels. The WPS is located within the larger South China Sea, wherein China imposes a blanket claim over.
The SC ruled that, as head of state, Duterte is free to use his own discretion in handling the longstanding maritime disputes with China.
"Executive power, indeed, rests on the President, including the peaceful and stable conduct of foreign affairs. Matters within the President's discretion cannot be compelled by mandamus," Nograles said.
"Having said this, the President has firmly kept his position to continue the peaceful resolution of disputes," the Cabinet Secretary further said.
The SC decision came on the heels of an incident in Ayungin Shoal wherein three Chinese Coast Guard vessels blocked and fired water cannons on two Philippine boats transporting supplies to military personnel in the Shoal.
Ayungin lies 105 nautical miles (194 kilometers) west of Palawan province in the Philippines and is within the country’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone or EEZ.
Duterte shocked some people when he gave a rather thorny response to China over the Nov. 16 Ayungin incident during Monday's ASEAN-China Special Summit.
"We abhor the recent event in the Ayungin Shoal and view with grave concern other similar developments. This does not speak well of the relations between our nations and our partnership,” the Philippine leader told Chinese President Xi Jinping. Duterte is known to be very friendly with China.
Nograles said Tuesday that Duterte’s criticism against China was consistent with his stand on maritime disputes.
ASEAN stands for Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which the Philippines is a founding member.