Gloria Arroyo lawyer: Aquino provoked China’s ‘island-building factory’

The lawyer of former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo blamed her successor, Benigno Aquino III, for provoking China into building artificial islands over disputed territories.

In a press conference for his primer on the West Philippine Sea dispute, Estrelito Mendoza said China’s “island-building factory” was pushed by the case that the Aquino administration filed before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

“As it turns out, that turned out to be a very significant event to China. Because China now has stated categorically and explicitly that its island-building factory … was provoked by the arbitral claim in the Philippines,” Mendoza told reporters, who were invited by Arroyo.

“So in effect, we were fighting in The Hague—we seemed to be winning in The Hague—but China outflanked us and China made it a point that while we were winning in The Hague, China was winning in the waters of the South China Sea,” he said.

Mendoza noted that this is “now going to be the most difficult problem” inherited by President Rodrigo Duterte.

‘Preposterous’

Reached for comment, Aquino’s spokesperson, lawyer Abigail Valte, said Mendoza’s statements were “nothing short of preposterous.”

“Is Atty. Mendoza making excuses for China now? His statement rationalizes the occupation and construction of artificial islands on disputed maritime features as a justified reaction to alleged ‘provocation’ under the Aquino Administration,” Valte said in a message to GMA News Online.

“It's nothing short of preposterous. What remains quite clear is that former President Aquino was unwilling to compromise Philippine claims for commercial gain,” she added.

JMSU

During the said press conference, the former president—who was placed under hospital arrest during Aquino’s term—repeatedly chided her successor by noting that China’s construction over disputed territories “were build in the previous administration.”

During Arroyo’s term, the Philippines entered into a Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) with China and Vietnam, where they agreed to conduct joint explorations in the West Philippine Sea.

She noted that JMSU did not interfere with the country’s claims over the territories “because it was for research.”

Mendoza repeatedly said that Arroyo’s term saw “not just peace and quiet,” but “cooperative effort” between the three countries.

“Of course there were questions of constitutionality, but it shows that cooperation—not necessarily war in the South China Sea—is a possibility and perhaps the best solution,” he added. 

In July last year, the Philippines won against China in a landmark ruling by the arbitral tribunal that invalidated Beijing’s massive claims in the South China Sea, parts of which Manila refers to as the West Philippine Sea.

The ruling was handed down in The Hague, Netherlands, more than three years after the case was filed during the Aquino administration in January 2013. — Rose-An Jessica Dioquino and Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez/RSJ, GMA News