Two years ago, the Aquino administration took pains to win the landmark ruling of an international tribunal that vested the country rights over the West Philippine Sea (WPS), but President Rodrigo Duterte just ‘forfeited’ their efforts, detained Senator Leila de Lima said.
On the Second Anniversary of the award by the UNCLOS International Arbitral Tribunal in the case of Philippines v. China, the staunch critic of Duterte likened the event to “David and Goliath’s fight” which “showcase the moral courage of the Filipino people and their past government under President Benigno S. Aquino III.”
But with Duterte’s actions regarding the situation in WPS, the dispute is now left for other countries to handle.
“Since the Duterte regime has chosen to forfeit the ruling that the Aquino government worked so hard for, the challenge against China’s continued acts of domination and militarization in the South China Sea is left to other countries like the United States and its allies in Asia and the Pacific,” de Lima said.
De Lima added that the Tribunal award will always be viewed as a “benchmark of exemplary global statesmanship,” something very far from what the Duterte administration is displaying, which is that of “shamelessness and cowardice.”
(DAILY NEWS ROUND UP FOR 07/ 12 /18)