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‘ASK US FOR HELP IF ATTACKED’

Carpio to Duterte: Send Navy to Scarborough amid China’s build plans


Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has reminded President Rodrigo Duterte of his constitutional duty to defend the national territory days after the Chief Executive said the Philippines could not stop China's construction plans at the Panatag Shoal.

Carpio called on Duterte to file a “strong” formal protest against the Chinese building activity and send the Philippine Navy to patrol Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal.

“File a strong formal protest against the Chinese building activity. This is the least that the President should do. This is what the Vietnamese did recently when China sent cruise tours to the disputed Paracels,” Carpio said.

“Send the Philippine Navy to patrol Scarborough Shoal. If the Chinese attack Philippine Navy vessels, then invoke the Phil-US Mutual Defense Treaty which covers any armed attack on Philippine navy vessels operating in the South China Sea,” he added.

He also urged the President to accept the US’ “standing offer” to hold joint naval patrols in the South China Sea, which includes Scarborough Shoal.

“This will demonstrate joint Philippine and US determination to prevent China from building on Scarborough Shoal,” Carpio said.

At the same time, Carpio asked Duterte to avoid any act, statement or declaration that expressly or impliedly waives Philippine sovereignty to any Philippine territory in the West Philippine Sea.

“This will preserve for future generations of Filipinos their national patrimony in the West Philippine Sea,” Carpio said. “Any statement that the Philippines cannot stop China from building on Scarborough Shoal actually encourages China to build on Scarborough Shoal.”

The SC justice also urged Duterte to ask the US to declare that Scarborough Shoal part of Philippine territory for purposes of the Philippines-US Mutual Defense Treaty “since the shoal [had] been part of Philippine territory even during the American colonial period.”

“The US has declared the Senkakus as part of Japanese territory for purposes of the US-Japan mutual defense treaty,” the magistrate said. 

A top official of China’s so-called Sansha City, which administers South China Sea territories it controls, said Beijing would start preparatory work for environmental monitoring stations on a number of islands, including Scarborough, this year.

Carpio warned that China would complete its radar coverage of the entire South China Sea if it finished the construction of a monitoring station on Panatag Shoal.

Former National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said based on information he received, China will put up a runway, government center, living quarters, radar facility, and a resort on Panatag Shoal, a report on Saksi by GMA News' Chino Gaston on Monday said.

"It will be a clear and present danger to our national security and to the security of the entire region," Golez said.

Carpio said the Panatag Shoal or Scarborough Shoal is part of Philippine national territory under Republic Act 9522 (Philippine Archipelagic Baselines Law) with the President, as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, “expressly tasked by the Constitution to defend the national territory.”

China claims “indisputable” ownership over nearly the entire South China Sea. The Philippines refers to parts of the South China Sea as West Philippine Sea.

It has ignored criticisms and protests over their actions, insisting that all its activities in the South China Sea are within the bounds of its territorial sovereignty.

In response to this development, Duterte said the country as well as the superpower the United States could not stop China from building the structure.

Still, Carpio suggested to Duterte to assert the country’s sovereignty over the resource-rich rocky outcrop 124 nautical miles off Palawan’s northwestern coast.

Atty. Estelito Mendoza, who was part of the Philippine delegation to the Law of the Sea Conference in 1968, agreed with Duterte's strategy, a report on Saksi on Monday said.

He said Duterte did not commit a violation in deciding to pursue talks with China.

"The President did not say that he will not enforce the law. He just said he will not go to war with China. A war in the South China Sea especially over Scarborough Shoal has very devastating consequences," Mendoza said. — NB/RSJ/KG, GMA News

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