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Palace fires back at Carpio over 'estafa' remark: He has resorted to name-calling


Malacañang on Wednesday fired back at retired Justice Antonio Carpio for describing as "grand estafa" President Rodrigo Duterte's alleged unfulfilled campaign promise to "retake" islands in the West Philippine Sea from China.

"He has resorted to name-calling. As a former justice, alam niya ang elemento ng estafa. Hindi ito estafa [As a former justice, he knows the elements of estafa. This is not estafa]," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque told reporters in a chance interview.

Under the Revised Penal Code, estafa is committed “by resorting to some fraudulent practice to insure success in a gambling game.”

Carpio has reminded Duterte that he declared in a debate in April 2016 that he would personally ride a jet ski to the features claimed by China and plant the Philippine flag -- a statement later dismissed by the President as a hyperbole.

Duterte has denied promising to retake the islands that he said the Philippines lost to China during the Aquino administration. This statement was echoed by Malacañang.

"President Duterte cannot now say that he never discussed or mentioned the West Philippine Sea issue when he was campaigning for president. There is a term for that – grand estafa or grand larceny. Making a false promise to get 16 million votes," Carpio had said in reaction to Duterte's denial.

In April 2016, then-Davao City mayor Duterte said he would personally ride a jet ski and plant the Philippine flag in West Philippine Sea islands even at the risk of getting China's ire.

Roque, meanwhile, reiterated that it was a Supreme Court decision penned by Carpio in 2011 which resulted in the Philippines losing islands in the West Philippine Sea to Chna.

The decision ruled that the 2009 Baselines law is not illegal because it only allowed the Philippines and other United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) party states to "delimit with precision the extent of their maritime zones and continental shelves" and “play no role in the acquisition, enlargement or, as petitioners claim, diminution of territory."

"He is talking as a politician," Roque said of Carpio.

"Kung estapador ang Presidente, ano ang tawag sa kanya na siya mismo ang sumulat ng desisyon kaya nawala ang sangkatutak na territorial sea at internal waters natin?" he added.

(If the President committed estafa, then what should we call someone who penned a decision which resulted in the Philippines losing a lot of its territorial sea and internal waters?)

"We will not stoop down to his level."

The Supreme Court issues decisions as a collegial body and based on what is agreed upon by the majority of its members.

In a July 2016 ruling, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected China's claim of sovereignty in the entire South China Sea, including the portion called West Philippine Sea by Manila.

The same Hague court decision, which stemmed from a case filed by the Philippines in 2013, also ruled that the Spratly Islands, Panganiban (Mischief) Reef, Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal and Recto (Reed) Bank are within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.  —Llanesca T. Panti/KBK, GMA News

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