Carpio: 1Sambayan to stop cowardly refusal to defend sovereignty
MANILA, Philippines — Former Associate Justice Antonio Carpio decried the current administration’s lackluster response to the territorial dispute affecting the West Philippine Sea and vowed that the opposition coalition 1Sambayan will put a stop to the country’s passive stance in this geopolitical battle.
Carpio, a convenor for 1Sambayan, said the coalition will fix the problems that the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte that have affected the country.
“We’ll put an end to the shameless, and cowardly refusal to defend our sovereignty and sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea,” said Carpio during 1Sambayan’s announcement of its candidates for the 2022 National Elections.
Carpio is one of the coalition’s convenors who named Vice President Leni Robredo, Sen. Grace Poe, former senator Antonio Trillanes, Bro. Eddie Villanueva, Atty. Chel Diokno, and Cong. Vilma Santos-Recto as nominees by 1Sambayan for president and vice president in the 2022 polls.
The Philippines already holds a legal victory over China in the United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea but Chinese forces have continued to encroach on the disputed isles without any retaliation from the government forces.
A powerful proponent of the Philippines’ battle in the West Philippine Sea dispute, Carpio said that it’s the union of the country’s democratic fronts that could revive the Philippines from its economic slump under the Duterte administration.
The Philippines has a total outstanding debt of P10.77 trillion and its gross domestic product has been shrinking for five straight quarters, marking the longest recession since the rule of former president Ferdinand Marcos.
“1Sambayan will unify the democratic forces in the country to bring good governance, to the Filipino people,” said Carpio. “It is good governance, that will lift up, people from poverty. It is good governance, that will bring economic development to the country, and prosperity to the Filipino people. It is good governance, that will restore the pride and dignity of the Filipino people.”
“With your cooperation and support that. We will revive, restore, and develop our country, bringing peace and prosperity to our people, so that we can all be proud, and stand tall, again as Filipinos.”
