{"id":151364,"date":"2018-02-06T03:49:40","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T08:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=151364"},"modified":"2018-02-06T03:49:40","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T08:49:40","slug":"lp-slams-duterte-admins-nonchalant-attitude-over-militarization-in-south-china-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/02\/06\/lp-slams-duterte-admins-nonchalant-attitude-over-militarization-in-south-china-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"LP slams Duterte admin’s ‘nonchalant attitude’ over militarization in South China Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The political party also called on the government to \u201cnot stand idly by\u201d and instead protest against the \u201cblatant\u201d violations of China in the Spratly islands. (Photo<\/a>: Liberal Party of the Philippines\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Liberal Party (LP) of the Philippines expressed deep concern on Duterte administration\u2019s \u201cnonchalant attitude\u201d in playing down China\u2019s militarization in the disputed South China Sea.<\/p>\n

LP President Senator Francis \u201cKiko\u201d Pangilinan reminded the government of its \u201csacred core duty\u201d to protect the country\u2019s territory on behalf of its people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we are deeply troubled that instead of expressing outrage, Malaca\u00f1ang displayed a nonchalant attitude in playing down China\u2019s militarization of the entire South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes a country? Aside from the recognition of its neighbors, a country is defined by its territory and the people in that territory, and its ability to defend its territory and people. Thus, it is the government\u2019s sacred core duty to protect its territory in behalf of its people,\u201d\u00a0he added.<\/p>\n

LP’s statement came after Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque downplayed reports that China is almost finished militarizing seven reefs claimed by the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know when I saw the headline, yes, it\u2019s a fact perhaps, but is that news? I don\u2019t think so. I think the moment that they start the reclamation, they declared that they will use it, they will have military facilities into the islands,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Roque added that the government will continue to rely upon China’s promise that it will not reclaim new artificial islands.<\/p>\n

“It disturbs every Filipino to hear the Malaca\u00f1ang spokesman relying on China\u2019s mere words that it would not reclaim new islands, thus, we can sleep soundly at night. It\u2019s like telling Filipinos not to worry because while China constructed a building, it would only stay on the ground floor,” Pangilinan said.<\/p>\n

The party also called on the government to \u201cnot stand idly by\u201d and instead protest against the \u201cblatant\u201d violations of China in the Spratly islands.<\/p>\n

“We, the people, demand that the government, at the very least, not stand idly by and instead protest these blatant violations of the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and beef up the country’s defenses in guarding what’s left of our territory,” the statement read.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Liberal Party (LP) of the Philippines expressed deep concern on Duterte administration\u2019s \u201cnonchalant attitude\u201d in playing down China\u2019s militarization …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":151379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,95,483],"tags":[45972,11223,45970,38515,45971],"class_list":["post-151364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-ph","category-politics","tag-disputed-south-china-sea","tag-duterte-administration","tag-liberal-party-lp-of-the-philippines","tag-senator-francis-kiko-pangilinan","tag-west-philippines-sea","mauthors-michealina-vallarta-david","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}