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Duterte on sea dispute with China: I'm willing to fight, but let's talk first


Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is ready to be a hero in case China will once again show aggression toward Filipino fishermen in West Philippine Sea.

During his speech at PDP-Laban's proclamation of his presidential bid and tandem with Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Monday, Duterte shared to the crowd what he said he once told a Chinese consul.

"If you continue f*cking with our fishermen, you will see me standing on Spratly Islands. You will have to kill me," he said. "I want to be a hero."

He said he even joked to the consul and told the official to claim the Indian Ocean instead, just not the West Philippine Sea.

Before sharing the extent he is willing to go to just to defend Filipino fishermen and the West Philippine Sea, Duterte, however, stressed that the Philippines cannot afford to go to war.

He said if he becomes president in 2016, he is willing to have bilateral talks with China regarding the territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

"I don't want to go to war. Pag-usapan na lang natin," he said. —KBK/JST, GMA News

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