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Duterte invoking US treaty 'sarcastic but with legal basis' —Roque
President Rodrigo Duterte's remark urging the United States to confront China over its expansive claim to the South China Sea may have been "sarcastic" but not without "legal basis," his former spokesman said Thursday.
"It was sarcastic because he was addressing the issue on the bigger perspective that people are accusing him of selling out to China, and that's why he said, 'I've had it with this criticism, let's let America walk the talk, and let's let them send warships, and then we will support them," former presidential Harry Roque told ANC.
Roque was referring to Duterte's remark during an interview on Pastor Apollo Quiboloy's television show where he mocked critics of his handling of the maritime dispute with China.
Roque, when asked for his own take on Duterte's remarks, said: "It was sarcastic but with legal basis."
He then recalled the tension that arose between Philippine vessels and Chinese ships in the Scarborough Shoal, which is within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
"Why do I say that it is actually with legal basis? Remember in 2014, we lost Scarborough, and we lost Scarborough because they sent at least three warships to the area, forcibly removed our coast guard from the area, as well as excluded our fishermen from fishing in the area. That, in my mind, is an armed attack," he added.
Roque added that "China has built three artificial islands in what the [Arbitral] Tribunal...has ruled is part of the exclusive economic zone and therefore there is a military occupation of parts of our EEZ, and military occupations are always governed by the Geneva Conventions or the LOS (Law of the Sea), and the LOS are always applicable in times of conflict."
"So if you want to be legally correct about it, we were a victim of an armed attack," he said. —Margaret Claire Layug/KBK, GMA News
