{"id":153648,"date":"2018-02-20T21:52:23","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T02:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=153648"},"modified":"2018-02-20T21:52:23","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T02:52:23","slug":"lacson-ph-as-china-province-obviously-a-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/02\/20\/lacson-ph-as-china-province-obviously-a-joke\/","title":{"rendered":"Lacson: PH as China province obviously a joke"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Senator<\/a>
Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday said the recent remarks made by President Rodrigo Duterte saying that the Philippines could be a province of China was obviously made in jest and should not be taken seriously. (Photo<\/a>: PTV\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u00a0— Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday said the recent remarks made by President Rodrigo Duterte saying that the Philippines could be a province of China was obviously made in jest and should not be taken seriously.<\/p>\n

Duterte\u2019s remarks were made Monday during the 20th founding anniversary celebration of the Chinese Filipino Business Club Inc. held in Manila Hotel during a light moment in his speech.<\/p>\n

Among the noted guests in the gathering was Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously it was a joke. After that,\u00a0sinabi naman niya<\/em>\u00a0(he said) \u2018I assert our sovereign rights over the islands\u00a0na<\/em>\u00a0kino<\/em>-contest (which are being contested),\u201d Lacson said in an ambush interview.<\/p>\n

When asked if there should be anything to worry over President\u2019s Duterte joking about Philippine sovereignty, the Philippine Military Academy alumnus (Batch \u201871) and former chief of the Philippine National Police answered \u201cnone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWala. Di ako<\/em>\u00a0worried\u00a0doon<\/em>\u00a0(Nothing. I am not worried about it),\u201d Lacson said.<\/p>\n

In his speech Monday, Duterte repeatedly asserted that the Philippines is undoubtedly the owner of the disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea that is also claimed by China.<\/p>\n

\u201cItong claim sa<\/em>\u00a0(South) China Sea,\u00a0talagang atin \u2018yan,<\/em>\u00a0(This claim in the South China Sea, that is absolutely ours) insofar as the Republic of the Philippines is concerned. I am ready, almost ready, to put my presidency, my career as President, my life and honor.\u00a0Akin \u2018yan<\/em>\u00a0(That is mine).<\/em>\u00a0I\u2019ve stated it in black and blue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn front of the Ambassador, I\u2019d tell you, we will insist. But what would be the components of our demands and our insistence? Well, we can only be diplomatic. We can only be talking on friendly and civilized terms,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

The President said he would also insist on the Philippine Rise \u201cbecause that is ours, period.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the continental shelf below it is Philippine jurisdiction, and that he would not allow any foreign expedition there anymore without the express approval of the military.<\/p>\n

It was only during the tail-end of his speech when he made the joke.<\/p>\n

\u201cGanoon na lang ang respeto ko kay<\/em>\u00a0(Chinese President) Xi Jinping.\u00a0Matakot ka?<\/em>\u00a0(I highly respect Chinese President Xi Jinping. Are you scared?)\u00a0Sabi nila<\/em>\u00a0they will not build\u2026 They assured us, they will not build anything there sa Scarborough Shoal.\u00a0Maniwala kayo kasi ‘yan ang<\/em>\u00a0commitment\u00a0sa akin ng<\/em>\u00a0China (Believe it because that is China’s commitment to me.)\u00a0Si<\/em>\u00a0Xi Jinping\u00a0mismo ang nagsabi<\/em>\u00a0(It was Xi Jinping himself who told me that) and he is a man of honor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaya nga sabi ko,<\/em>\u00a0(That’s why I said) \u2018why are you so sparing?\u2019\u00a0Gusto ninyo gawin na lang ninyo kaming<\/em>\u00a0(If you want, make us your) province, Fujian pati (including) Philippines, province of China,\u00a0eh ‘di wala tayong problema.<\/em>\u00a0Libre na lahat<\/em>\u00a0(So we don’t have any problems. Everything is free),\u201d Duterte said in front of Chinese-Filipino businessmen.<\/p>\n

\u201cKasi ‘yung<\/em>\u00a0oil — joint\u00a0naman<\/em>\u00a0(The oil — it is joint).\u00a0‘Yung<\/em>\u00a0oil\u00a0mo dito ang pinakamarami.<\/em>\u00a0(The oil is the most abundant here.) Two-third\u00a0sa amin<\/em>, one-third\u00a0kayo, mayaman naman kayo eh<\/em>\u00a0(Two-thirds for us, one third for you. Anyway, you are rich).\u00a0At saka probinsya na kami<\/em>\u00a0(And we are now a province.) Oh, Province of Philippines, Republic of China.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nearest is Fujian.\u00a0Hayaan mo na lang ‘yang<\/em>\u00a0Taipei (Leave Taipei alone).\u00a0Huwag na nating galawin ‘yan<\/em>\u00a0(Let’s not touch that).\u00a0Ah napaka maliit-liit na ano, hayaan mo ‘yan siya<\/em>\u00a0(It’s just a small thing. Leave it there). Let it float there.\u00a0Makuha mo ang<\/em>\u00a0(You get the) Philippines,\u00a0wala nang problema kasi maraming pera eh<\/em>\u00a0(there is no problem because there is a lot of money).\u00a0Kung babae pa itong<\/em>\u00a0China,\u00a0niligawan ko na ‘yan. Daming kwarta ah<\/em>\u00a0(If China is a woman, I would have courted her. She has a lot of money),\u201d Duterte said to applause and more laughter.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

MANILA\u00a0— Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday said the recent remarks made by President Rodrigo Duterte saying that the Philippines could …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":153649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[420,2990,343,13135],"class_list":["post-153648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-china","tag-panfilo-lacson","tag-philippines","tag-president-rodrigo-duterte","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153648","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=153648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}