{"id":97528,"date":"2017-04-08T21:23:33","date_gmt":"2017-04-09T01:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=97528"},"modified":"2017-04-08T21:23:33","modified_gmt":"2017-04-09T01:23:33","slug":"dfa-president-dutertes-decision-to-protect-9-islets-in-west-philippine-sea-is-an-act-of-performing-his-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/04\/08\/dfa-president-dutertes-decision-to-protect-9-islets-in-west-philippine-sea-is-an-act-of-performing-his-mandate\/","title":{"rendered":"DFA: President Duterte\u2019s decision to protect 9 islets in West Philippine Sea is an act of performing his mandate"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_97529\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-97529\" style=\"width: 1500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ph33-0617_KARL19-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-97529\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ph33-0617_KARL19-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Saturday clarified that President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s decision in ordering the military to occupy and protect at least nine islets in the West Philippine Sea is an act of performing his mandate with respect to Philippine territory. (Photo: KARL NORMAN ALONZO\/Presidential Photo)\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ph33-0617_KARL19-1.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ph33-0617_KARL19-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ph33-0617_KARL19-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ph33-0617_KARL19-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-97529\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Saturday clarified that President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s decision in ordering the military to occupy and protect at least nine islets in the West Philippine Sea is an act of performing his mandate with respect to Philippine territory. (Photo: <a href=\"http:\/\/pcoo.gov.ph\/\">KARL NORMAN ALONZO\/Presidential Photo<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>MANILA\u2013The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Saturday clarified that President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s decision in ordering the military to occupy and protect at least nine islets in the West Philippine Sea is an act of performing his mandate with respect to Philippine territory.<\/p>\n<p>DFA Spokesman and Assistant Secretary Charles Jose said the order was purely focus on islets, which are ours and not part of the contested one.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe aim is to improve the living conditions, safety and personal security of Filipinos in those areas,\u201d Jose said in a text message.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the same time, we remain committed to improving our relations with China and other partners in the region,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>He said the President tried to be friends with everybody \u201cbut we have to maintain our jurisdiction now, at least the areas under our control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Philippines controls nine islets in the disputed Spratlys region, the largest of which is Pag-asa, an area under Palawan\u2019s fifth class town of Kalayaan.<\/p>\n<p>Other Philippine-occupied islets and land features in Spratlys are Ayungin Shoal, Lawak Island, Parola Island, Patag Island, Kota Island, Rizal Reef, Likas Island and Panata Island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MANILA\u2013The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Saturday clarified that President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s decision in ordering the military to occupy &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":97529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[17689,13135,3370],"class_list":["post-97528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-9-islets","tag-president-rodrigo-duterte","tag-west-philippine-sea","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97528","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=97528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}