{"id":230739,"date":"2019-09-12T19:00:50","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T23:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=230739"},"modified":"2019-09-12T19:00:50","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T23:00:50","slug":"prrd-not-dropping-claim-on-wps-for-joint-oil-exploration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/09\/12\/prrd-not-dropping-claim-on-wps-for-joint-oil-exploration\/","title":{"rendered":"PRRD not dropping claim on WPS for joint oil exploration"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte answers queries from the members of the media following the oath-taking ceremony of the officers of the Malaca\u00f1ang Press Corps, Presidential Photojournalists Association, and Malaca\u00f1ang Cameramen Association at the Malaca\u00f1an Palace on September 10, 2019. ACE MORANDANTE\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— President Rodrigo Duterte is not setting aside the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in favor of a joint oil and gas exploration with China, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador made this clarification after former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said there was no need for government to \u201cignore\u201d the arbitral ruling to give way to economic activity with China.<\/p>\n

In a media interview on Tuesday (Sept. 10), Duterte was quoted saying the \u201cexclusive economic zone is part of the arbitral ruling which we will ignore to come up with an economic activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panelo explained that Duterte did not mean that he is abandoning Philippine claims on the disputed sea by using the word \u201cignore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the President means is that, as we have repeatedly said and as he has said too, the arbitral ruling is still subject to talks between the two countries. Negotiation is ongoing peacefully. But meanwhile, we focus on the other concerns that may mutually benefit the two countries,\u201d Panelo said in a Palace briefing.<\/p>\n

He criticized del Rosario for his comments about the way the President handled the sea dispute blaming him for losing control over the Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) during the previous administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with him is he talks a lot. But as the President says, he was behind the loss of Scarborough Shoal. Moreover, the setting aside (of the arbitral ruling) doesn\u2019t mean that we will abandon it,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already responded to all his opinions and he should look at himself in the mirror and admit that he is the one responsible for losing Scarborough Shoal,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Panelo also denied that Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. refuted the President when he said that China has never made ignoring the arbitral ruling a \u201cprerequisite\u201d to come up with a joint exploration.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Locsin) did not say that Philippines will drop the claim. What was he said, the arbitral ruling is still subject to peaceful talks,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words, impasse\u00a0pa e so hayaan na muna natin mag-usap<\/em>\u00a0(there\u2019s still an impasse so let\u2019s allow them to talk). Let\u2019s talk about other things like this joint exploration. He\u2019s not refuting the President,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Panelo pointed out that what Duterte meant was that he was opting not to confront China about the arbitral ruling \u201cimmediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKumabaga, hindi kino-<\/em>confront immediately\u00a0nag-uusap pa rin<\/em>\u00a0(It\u2019s as if saying, we\u2019re not confronting immediately since we\u2019re still talking) how to resolve it. Not set aside, but set aside in the sense\u00a0na \u2018O sige pag-usapan natin \u2018yan\u2019. Yun ang ibig sabihin nun<\/em>\u00a0(\u2018Let\u2019s talk about it. That\u2019s what he meant),\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi yung naka-focus lang doon<\/em>\u00a0(We won\u2019t just focus on the arbitral ruling alone). The relationship between the two countries is not measured by the conflict in the West Philippine Sea alone,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Earlier, del Rosario cited the suggestion of Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio to agree on a service contract arrangement with China to remain faithful to the arbitral ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a service contract arrangement is followed, where a Chinese company participates either as an equity holder or a subcontractor, the President would remain faithful to the Constitution and the arbitral ruling,\u201d del Rosario said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this way, the President will also not turn back on his promise to the Filipino people made during his October 16, 2016 departure speech, as he embarked on State visits to Brunei Darussalam and China, that he cannot be the \u2018sole authorized agent\u2019 to share with the Chinese, our EEZ which belongs exclusively to the Filipino people,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— President Rodrigo Duterte is not setting aside the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on the West Philippine …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":230328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230739","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=230739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230742,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230739\/revisions\/230742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}