Palace hit back critics of ASEAN Summit

Malacañang strikes back at critics who expressed their dissatisfaction in the results of the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and related meetings.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the disappointment that the opposition lawmakers are insisting is born out of their lack of effort to read the whole output of the Summit.

“I can assure you that the threat of nuclear annihilation is not a matter of pageantry. The need for peace and stability on the South China Sea is not a matter of pageantry. And, of course, the issue of terrorism, the fact that terrorism today knows no territorial boundaries is no pageantry,” he said.

“So, I beg to disagree. And obviously, the opposition leaders who said this did not take time out to read the official accounts of how the Summit went through ‘no or the outputs of the Summit,” he added.

Roque’s statement came after Ifugao District Rep. Teddy Baguilat said he doesn’t recall any major and significant regional agreement drafted or approved by the bloc, adding it was all just handshakes and safe rhetoric.

Akbayan party-list Representative Tom Villarin also said, “At the end of the day, we spent P15 billion for us to look stupid parading the ‘emperor’s new clothes.”

DAILY NEWS ROUND UP FOR 11/ 17 /17