{"id":155472,"date":"2018-03-07T12:00:26","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T17:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=155472"},"modified":"2018-03-07T23:17:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T04:17:21","slug":"palace-appeals-for-unity-in-resolving-west-ph-sea-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/03\/07\/palace-appeals-for-unity-in-resolving-west-ph-sea-woes\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace appeals for unity in resolving West PH Sea woes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. ( YANCY LIM\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amid recent talks on possible joint exploration in Service Contracts (SC) 57 and 72, Malaca\u00f1ang on Wednesday, March 7, appealed for the public to unify to resolve the issues hounding the West Philippine Sea.<\/p>\n

In a press briefing held in Palawan, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that President Rodrigo Duterte will not surrender even a tiny part of the country\u2019s territory to anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President considers the West Philippine Sea and all the islands that we are currently occupying and lay claim to as part of the province of Palawan, with the exception, of course, of Scarborough which forms part of the province of Zambales,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President has said that he will not surrender a single inch of Philippine territory to foreigners,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Duterte earlier drew flak after he announced that he welcomed China\u2019s proposal of joint exploration in the West Philippine Sea. The President said that this exploration can be likened to \u201cco-ownership\u201d as it will be conducted by both the Philippines and China.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Palace official said \u201cWe appeal to the critics, we have to be united on this issue. Please do not claim to have the monopoly of upholding the national interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the Chief Executive has been consistent that he is willing to risk his life for the country\u2019s territory, but he will not risk even a single life \u201cfor an issue that can be resolved on the basis of friendly relations.\u201d<\/p>\n

PH is in control<\/strong><\/p>\n

On March 5, the government said that it will be in control in case the joint exploration with China in SC 57 materializes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell they can participate in explorations and exploitation provided, as the decision says we have ultimate control over the exploration and the development,\u201d Roque said on Monday.<\/p>\n

Citing a part of the digest\u2014the rationale of the Court in the Case of La Bugal versus Ramos, the spokesman said that the state must exercise \u201cfull control and supervision over the exploration, development and utilizations of natural resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Roque stressed that the case of SC 57 is different from SC 72.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will absolutely be subject to Philippine Law, if it is 57. As to 72, the agreement on joint exploration will be governed by international law, because there has to be a treaty to be signed between the Philippines and China first on the joint exploration before it can be implemented by juridical entities of the contracting states,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Palace official also mentioned various joint explorations of other countries, saying that these explorations are not new.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid recent talks on possible joint exploration in Service Contracts (SC) 57 and 72, Malaca\u00f1ang on Wednesday, March 7, appealed …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":146495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[978,27755,3370],"class_list":["post-155472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-malacanang","tag-unity","tag-west-philippine-sea","mauthors-joanna-belle-deala","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155472","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=155472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}