Duterte mocks critics, invokes defense treaty with US amid maritime row

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday urged the United States to confront China over its expansive claim to the South China Sea as he mocked critics of his handling of the maritime dispute.

Invoking the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and US, Duterte asked Washington to deploy the US Navy's 7th Fleet, based in Yokosuka, Japan, to the South China Sea.

"I'm calling now America. I’m invoking the RP-US pact. I would like America to gather all their 7th Fleet in front of China. I'm asking them now. I will join them," he said in an interview over Pastor Apollo Quiboloy's television show.

He said he will bring Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario — the critics of his South China Sea policy — with him.

"I will ride on the boat where the admiral of the US [is]. But I will drag along Carpio and the rest. When the Americans say, ‘We're here now,’ and I said ‘Ready. Can I have the honor admiral?’ I will press it,” the President said.

"Maybe that would be the end of Palawan. Palawan maybe devastated, maybe occupied or if there will be nuclear bombs then we will dry up. So nothing will grow here, we can just wait, just like a big hole coming our way, to suck us to eternity and then we can sing the 'Mona Lisa.' ‘And they just lie there, and they die there," he added.

Malacañang earlier rejected the suggestion of Senator Panfilo Lacson for the Philippines to invoke the defense pact after the June 9 allision involving Filipino and Chinese vessels near Recto Bank in the South China Sea.

Lacson had said that the defense treaty was an “untapped weapon” that could “make China feel the balance of power” in the disputed waters.

But Duterte’s spokesperson Salvador Panelo said last month that the treaty cannot be invoked in the Recto Bank incident since it has yet to be established whether the incident was as an act of aggression by the Chinese government.

Under the treaty, the US is obliged to assist the Philippines if its armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft are attacked even it

has been Washington’s policy not to intervene in the competing territorial claims by several Asian nations in the South China Sea, a portion of which Manila refers to as the West Philippine Sea. 

In February, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in a news conference in Manila that the defense treaty obligated the US to aid the Philippines if the latter's forces were attacked in the South China Sea.

It was the first time that a US government official from the Trump administration clarified that the South China Sea, where the Philippines and China are locked in years-long territorial row, is covered by the defense pact.

On Tuesday, the Philippines and the US reaffirmed their alliance by signing an agreement to expand areas of defense and maritime cooperation.

Among these are improving defense infrastructure, updating personnel and logistics procedures, and increasing mutual communication and coordination on operational elements of regional security.

Both sides also said they will plan a range of activities to improve maritime domain awareness.

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said there was no final decision on the proposed review of the treaty but said discussions are ongoing on the issue and that this may be taken up in a scheduled meeting in September.  —KBK, GMA News