Carpio: Pinoys being patient with Duterte to assert rights over West PHL Sea

Filipinos are just being patient with President Rodrigo Duterte and willing to wait for him to assert the country's rights to territories in the West Philippines Sea, according to Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio.

This, Carpio said, would explain why a recent survey showed Duterte still enjoys the trust of eight out of 10 Filipinos, in spite of another poll showing at least 93% of Filipinos wanting the Philippine government to regains control over the islands occupied by China in the WPS.

"It seems difficult to explain, but I think our people are very patient," Carpio told GMA News' resident analyst Richard Heydarian in an exclusive interview on FYI on Thursday.

"They are willing to wait but, of course, they want to express their preference now. They want to assert our rights, and they're probably giving... the President (time) to do it," said the magistrate, who is one of the fierce defenders of  Philippine sovereignty in the WPS dispute.

The first survey was conducted by Pulse Asia on the Performance and Trust Ratings of the Top Philippine Government Officials for the second quarter of the year and conducted last June 24 to 30 among 1,200 adults.

Not only did Duterte get a high 85 percent on both his trust and approval ratings, the survey also revealed that the President is the most trusted top government official of  the Philippines.

The second survey, meanwhile, was that by the Social Weather Survey (SWS) in June which showed that more people, specifically 93 percent of all Filipinos, saying it was very important or somewhat important that the Philippines regain control of the China-occupied islands in the West Philippine Sea.

This survey was conducted June 22 to 26, 2019 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 Filipinos aged 18 and above nationwide.

The surveys came almost halfway into the term of Duterte, who has yet to press China over its expansive claim to the South China Sea and assert its claims in the territory, as ruled upon by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016.

"I think we're still in the mid-term, so the people are probably saying: 'This is what we want but we're giving you time'," Carpio said.

"Because the President said I will assert the ruling at some time during my term,' so I mean it should be towards, not later, towards the end, but we're reaching that point already." — MDM, GMA News