President Marcos defended Vice President Sara Duterte against criticisms of her supposed silence in the territorial disputes with China over the West Philippine Sea.
President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte (Inday Sara Duterte/Facebook)
During a media interview in Washington D.C., where the Chief Executive met with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida about the peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, he claimed that Duterte is “in line” with his administration’s position in the disputed waters.
While the Vice President, who is also the concurrent Education chief, is part of the government, the President said it’s not her role to talk about the China issue.
“So, I think we are all in line because I’m very sure that if Inday Sara had some very serious misgivings about what we are doing in terms of foreign policies, she would bring that to me,” Marcos said on Friday, April 12 (US time).
The Chief Executive furthered that Duterte’s lack of comment or statement about the West Philippine Sea isn’t something that he should be concerned with.
“And, wala naman siyang, ang pinag-uusapan nga namin, sabi niya, ‘Basta ako trabaho lang ako nang trabaho,’ sabi niyang ganun (she doesn’t, what we talk about, she said, ‘I will just focus on my work,’ she said). That’s a good policy. So, I don’t think it is something that we need to be concerned with," he added.
Duterte is being criticized for her “no comment” remark when asked about the territorial disputes in the region, and she has not talked about China’s various aggressive actions in the contested waters even as three Filipinos were injured and a Philippine vessel was damaged in the latest water cannon attacks.
The criticisms of the Vice President is born out of her father’s, former president Rodrigo Duterte’s, friendly stance against China during his administration.
It was also recently revealed that he had a “gentleman’s agreement” with Beijing about maintaining the status quo in the Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, which sits 200 kilometers away from Palawan and more than 1,000 kilometers from China’s Hainan Island.
Meanwhile, Marcos also dismissed speculations that the Philippines' trilateral agreement with the United States and Japan will have an effect on China’s investments in the Philippines.
The President expressed confidence that China will continue whatever investments it chooses to make in the Philippines.
“This (trilateral agreement) is separate from any proposed or potential Chinese investments in the Philippines. How do I see it, how will it affect? I don’t see that it will affect, one way or the other,” he explained.
During his working visit to the United States, he forged a strong trilateral alliance with the US and Japan, which he said, will define the future of the Indo-Pacific under a more robust economic, security and defense structure.