Duterte ‘supportive’ of arbitral ruling on West Philippine Sea —Jardeleza

Retired Supreme Court Justice Francis Jardeleza on Thursday expressed the belief that President Rodrigo Duterte supports the landmark arbitral ruling upholding the country's sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea.

Jardeleza issued the statement after he was asked during a Palace news conference whether he agreed with Duterte's controversial remarks last month that the 2016 decision is a mere piece of paper fit to be thrown in a waste basket.

"The context of his statement was it was just street parlance," the retired magistrate said. "Everything is said in context."

Duterte's pronouncements before the United Nations and in his State of the Nation Address would indicate that he is "supportive of the tribunal’s decision," Jardeleza said.

Last September, Duterte told the United Nations General Assembly that the ruling was "beyond compromise and beyond the reach of passing governments to dilute, diminish or abandon.”

"If a Filipino defends before an international tribunal, what is the position of the Philippines? What is important is what the President told the United Nations, what he said in his State of the Nation Address," Jardeleza said.

Jardeleza was part of the Philippine legal team that challenged China's maritime claims before the Hague-based arbitral tribunal based on its "nine-dash line."

The tribunal has no power of enforcement as China repeatedly refused to recognize the ruling that invalidated its sweeping maritime claims. — BM, GMA News