Palace chides Robredo for ‘useless, unproductive’ tirades vs Duterte

MANILA, Philippines–Malacañang slammed Friday the “evolving penchant of finding fault” of Vice President Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo, dismissing her criticism of  President Rodrigo Duterte’s remark over the West Philippine Sea as “nitpicking and habitual engagement in useless and unproductive semantics.”

Palace spokesperson Salvador Panelo issued the statement after Robredo described as “profoundly disappointing and extremely irresponsible” Duterte’s remark he would “ignore” the 2016 Hague ruling as he pursued a joint oil and gas exploration with China in the West Philippine Sea.

“The problem with my friend Vice President Leni Robredo is the inability of her political advisers to comprehend the complexities of our current situation with China. She may want to change them with some erudite intellectuals knowledgeable in geopolitics and in the art of diplomacy,” Panelo said.

“Like the usual detractors and critics of the President, VP Robredo may have been carried away by their nitpicking and habitual engagement in useless and unproductive semantics,” he added.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1163810/ignore-arbitral-ruling-for-gas-deal-extremely-irresponsible-robredo

Panelo said that what is “profoundly disappointing and extremely irresponsible, borrow her words, is her evolving penchant of finding fault in every word the President says, as well as issuing misplaced and flamboyant remarks against it.”

He said Duterte “is not, in any way, nor by any stretch, surrendering our rights over the West Philippine Sea.”

“The arbitral ruling, as the President has repeatedly said, is final, binding and unappealable,” Panelo said, adding the ruling “will be there forever and ever, as in forever.”

China claims most of the contested South China Sea, including waters close to Philippine shores, and has rejected the UN-backed international tribunal ruling that said its assertion to the sea is without legal basis.

Duterte is under growing pressure to challenge China — after largely setting aside the standoff for years — with tensions high after a Chinese fishing trawler hit and sank a Filipino boat in June in the contested waters.

Panelo said the President would “not allow nor sit idly in silence respecting any action by the international community in derogation thereof.”

“He is fiercely protective of the country’s sovereignty,” he added.

In a press briefing in Malacañang Tuesday, Duterte said, “we will ignore” the ruling “to come up with an economic activity.”

Palace: PH won’t ditch Hague ruling in favor of joint oil deal with China

“What he meant when he said that he will first set aside the ruling is that he would first focus on exploring the possibility of getting something from the area that would benefit the Filipino people pending the continuing diplomatic and peaceful negotiation of our territorial dispute with China,” Panelo said.

“Notwithstanding this impasse with China on our territorial conflict,” he said, “wisdom, prudence and pragmatism dictate that we forge in strengthening our foreign relations on uncontested matters that will invariably provide mutual benefit to our countries.”

“Of particular note is the joint exploration of our natural resources in the West Philippine Sea, which is outside the ambit of our difference with China over which our Constitution expressly allows,” he cited.

He said, “it would certainly be the height of folly and naïveté if the Philippines were to ignore areas of investment that our country badly needs to fuel our rapidly expanding growth.”

He explained that “as a matter of sound foreign policy, our difference with China, or with any other country for the matter, cannot be the sum total of our relationship with it or with any other.”

“Strengthening our relations by channeling efforts in wider perspectives of cooperation and assistance would further help our nation and serves as a means of building amity and mutual respect for purposes of settling any dispute, including what we have with China with regard to its claims vis-à-vis ours over the West Philippine Sea,” he said:

“We hope that the Vice President will be more circumspect in issuing statements on the matter and rely more on her instinct as a lawyer and mother protective of those she is constitutionally tasked to shepherd,” he added.

In a meeting in Beijing between Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping late last month, Xi reiterated his government’s position of not recognizing the tribunal ruling “as well as not budging from its position.”

China invokes the so-called “nine-dash line” to mark its historic rights to the territory, which is based on a vague map that emerged in the 1940s. With Agence France-Presse