{"id":246396,"date":"2020-02-27T19:29:38","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T00:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=246396"},"modified":"2020-02-27T19:29:38","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T00:29:38","slug":"dutertes-us-or-china-territory-remarks-mere-banter-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/02\/27\/dutertes-us-or-china-territory-remarks-mere-banter-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte\u2019s \u2018US or China\u2019 territory remarks ‘mere banter’: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE; President Rodrigo Roa Duterte holds a press conference at the Malaca\u00f1an Palace on November 19, 2019. VALERIE ESCALERA\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Thursday dismissed as a mere banter the latest pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte that the Philippines could either be a territory of the United States (US) or a province of China.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo justified Duterte\u2019s remarks saying the latter merely floated the possibility, in case the Philippines fails to fight its own battles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a general statement.\u00a0Kumbaga kantyaw yun sa sarili nating bansa. Kung hindi natin kaya, ‘wag na tayong magkaroon ng gobyerno. \u2018Yun ang ibig niyang sabihin<\/em>\u00a0(It\u2019s like banter to our own country that if we can\u2019t do it, let\u2019s not have our own government. That\u2019s what he means),\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Duterte said the Philippines could choose between becoming a US territory or China\u2019s province, if it could not become self-reliant.<\/p>\n

Duterte issued the statement, as he recounted asking the Armed Forces of the Philippines whether the Philippines could survive without the US following the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can be a territory of the Americans or we can be a province of China\u00a0kung hindi natin kaya<\/em>\u00a0(if we can\u2019t stand on our feet),\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Panelo said Duterte\u2019s latest remarks should be taken lightly because he would not allow the Philippines to be dependent on other countries like the US and China.<\/p>\n

\u201cAno lang ‘yun, sinasabi niya na kung hindi nating kaya maging gobyerno, ‘di magpa<\/em>-colonize\u00a0na lang tayo. Yun ang ibig niyang sabihin<\/em>\u00a0(What he\u2019s saying is if we can\u2019t stand on our own, it\u2019s better for us to be colonized. That\u2019s what he meant),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte earlier ordered the termination of VFA, a 1998 military pact between Manila and Washington DC, as he believed that it only benefits the US and puts the Philippines at a disadvantage.<\/p>\n

The VFA is deemed revoked 180 days after the US government on February 11 received the formal notice of termination from the Philippines.<\/p>\n

Since he assumed office in 2016, Duterte has kept a distance from the US, the Philippines\u2019 long-time ally.<\/p>\n

Duterte has instead sought mended ties with China, despite Manila’s longstanding disputes with Beijing over the South China Sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Thursday dismissed as a mere banter the latest pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte that the Philippines could …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":237885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246396","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\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246397,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246396\/revisions\/246397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}