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From jetski to appeasement: Opposition bets blast Duterte; Roque comes to the rescue

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Mike Navallo, ABS-CBN News

ILOILO CITY – Senatorial candidates Neri Colmenares, Florin Hilbay and Chel Diokno faced off with former Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque at a forum in Iloilo City on Friday.At issue at the forum organized by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines were the Philippines’ foreign policy and the West Philippine Sea.Former Rep. Neri Colmenares mocked the President’s campaign promise of riding a jetski to fight for our rights in the West Philippine Sea.“Sabi niya, ‘I will ride a jetski and stake our claim doon sa West Philippine Sea and kung patayin ako, I will also be a hero.’ Unfortunately, a few months later, ang sabi niya, that was a joke,” he said, drawing laughter from some 3,000 lawyers gathered at the Iloilo Convention Center for the 17th IBP National Convention.The BAYAN MUNA chair and Makabayan senatorial candidate said he was surprised that when the UN arbitral ruling in favor of the Philippines came out in July 2016, the Philippine government came out with the statement: “We will study the decision and we are calling on everybody to exercise restraint.”“Can you imagine a victorious party, pañero, nanalo ka na, panalo ka na sa judge, panalo ka na sa Supreme Court pero ang sasabihin mo, aaralin ko ang desisyon ng Korte Suprema? Saan ka nakakita ng panalo pero astang talo?” he asked.Colmenares said that the Philippine position has become a policy of appeasement, which might lead to war someday because the stronger China’s position on the West Philippine Sea is, the more intractable it becomes, the harder the negotiation.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">IBP presents plaques to Diokno, Hilbay, Colmenares and Roque as well as to moderators Prof. Jay Batongbacal and Prof. Andre Palacios. <a href="https://t.co/xhTCfJh5JQ">pic.twitter.com/xhTCfJh5JQ</a>— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) <a href="https://twitter.com/mikenavallo/status/1111571311187288064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay also recalled the President’s reaction after a meeting with his entire cabinet following the release of the ruling.“I remember the line of the President: ‘We need to do a soft landing.’ I didn’t know that that soft landing would involve a U-turn. And that’s exactly where we stand right now,” he said, noting that the country has not filed a single protest under this administration.Hilbay accused the President of “culpable violation of the Constitution” in declaring that he is setting aside the dispute with China and the arbitral ruling in favor of the Philippines.“The language of China has not changed: set aside the dispute, set aside the decision and look for compromise. The language of the President is the same: set aside the dispute, set aside, in fact, the decision…That is the kind of statement that is damaging to the national interest. I would, in fact, consider that as a culpable violation of constitution,” he said.Human rights lawyer Diokno meanwhile accused President Duterte of “betrayal of public trust” in allowing China to “have its way in the West Philippine Sea.”This, he said, is actually a violation of several laws which already recognized the West Philippine Sea as part of Philippine territory long before the 2016 UN arbitral tribunal ruling came out.He cited the 1987 Constitution, the Fisheries Code and Presidential Decree 1599, which established an exclusive economic zone even before the Philippines became a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas.“This betrayal of public trust will affect not only this generation of Filipinos but our children and their children as well,” he said.Both culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust are grounds for impeachment.But former Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque was quick to come to the President’s defense.“Let me correct the mis-impression that the Duterte administration or the President himself is less patriotic than anyone else. I think that’s unfair,” he said.“We do not have an international police that can enforce this award. So when you find in the screen a criticism that the Duterte administration has not enforced the arbitral decision, my question is, ‘Why? How will you enforce it?’” he asked, pointing out that the Philippines only has about 4 naval vessels.Roque said that the 2016 arbitral ruling has not settled all the issues surrounding the ownership of the islands in the South China Sea because the UNCLOS has no jurisdiction to determine who owns the islands but only the maritime zones they generate.“There is virtually no international tribunal now outside of bilateral arbitration that can resolve the issues over the islands,” he said, suggesting that the only option is to resort to diplomacy.He cited the case of fisherfolk from Zambales and Infanta whom he represented in filing communications with different UN treaty bodies. Now, he said, they can fish.“Are we better off now compared to the past? As far as my clients are concerned, they can now have a livelihood whereas for 4 years, they were deprived of their livelihood,” he explained.He also said that at least, under President Duterte’s foreign policy, the Philippines is getting more investments and tourist arrivals from China and our bananas can now enter China.“And take note, prior to this administration, we virtually had no investments from China,” he added.But Hilbay pointed out that such policy of seeking permission and appeasing China is not beneficial for Filipinos in the long run and while practical, may be “very costly.”“The fundamental problem is, at the time when the administration is so proud of its political might, political will, ‘yun ang ayaw nilang gamitin pag dating sa West Philippine Sea,” he said.“If we were to follow the logic of practicality, we might as well change our name to Province of China,” Diokno said.Colmenares, on the other hand, warned that the country should be very cautious in dealing with China especially when it comes to onerous loans. He cited the experience of the Philippines’ joint exploration of the South China Sea where the Philippines gained nothing except unreadable information.“Tuso ang Tsina at hindi pwedeng pagkatiwalaan sa anumang kasunduan sa ngayon dahil sa dispute natin sa West Philippine Sea,” he said.

ILOILO CITY – Senatorial candidates Neri Colmenares, Florin Hilbay and Chel Diokno faced off with former Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque at a forum in Iloilo City on Friday.

ILOILO CITY – Senatorial candidates Neri Colmenares, Florin Hilbay and Chel Diokno faced off with former Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque at a forum in Iloilo City on Friday.

From jetski to appeasement: Opposition bets blast Duterte; Roque comes to the rescue

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From jetski to appeasement: Opposition bets blast Duterte; Roque comes to the rescue

Mike Navallo,

ABS-CBN News

Published March 29, 2019 11:09 PM PHT

Read More:

Neri Colmenares

Florin Hilbay

Harry Roque

West Philippine Sea

South China Sea

Rodrigo Duterte

China

sea dispute

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