Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. (File photo via PNA)
Locsin made this clarification in an apparent rebuttal to the statements of former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario who claimed that China “deceitfully breached” an agreement brokered by the US for the Philippine Navy ship and the Chinese vessels to withdraw from the Scarborough Shoal to defuse the tension.
“But when they confronted themselves, the interference the participation of the United States was to try to stop people from attacking each other. It’s a they think it’s their job. So they said, “stand down”. So they stood down. And then United States told both sides, not taking sides, said ‘withdraw’… These are only good offices of the United States, it is a suggestion,
SunStar
+ May 11, 2021 In some far-flung areas in Mindanao, some legitimate landowners abandoned their vast land because during harvest season their products are harvested by armed men. When they confronted the armed men on why they harvested their products when they are the legitimate and legal owners of the land, the armed men would simply answer, “Yes, this is your land, but the products are ours,” while at the same time pointing their guns at the landowners.
If you were the landowners, would you insist and assert your ownership at gunpoint? You can, but you can be killed anytime. So you just keep silent or to avoid trouble just leave the place. Landowners can only assert their ownership if they will also take up arms to fight the armed men taking their products. That is what we call “balance of terror.”
Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario (DFA file photo)
In a statement, Del Rosario said such a debate, which Roque is “endeavoring to promote”, is not the best way to spend the time of Filipinos since “it will only manifest to the world that we are not united and we do not know what we are doing”.
The former DFA secretary, who was one of the architects of the Arbitration case filed by the Philippines against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, even questioned Roque’s credibility as a spokesperson for President Duterte.
“We are made to understand, however, that Secretary Roque’s own department is undergoing serious credibility challenges. The question arises – Is the problem with the marketer, or is it the product, or both?” he said.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo (Malacañang/Manila Bulletin)
Panelo made the offer after rejecting allegations that the President’s withdrawal from the debate with Carpio was supposedly a sign of cowardice. He argued that Carpio was actually no match for the President since they don’t have “the same rank, same intelligence, and same status.”
“Hindi naman siya presidente ng bansa. Pangalawa, hindi pa nga siya opisyal (He is the president. Second, he’s not even an official),” Panelo said about Carpio during a recent episode of his “Counterpoint” program.
“Kung gusto mo makipagdebate Tony Carpio, tayong dalawa. Pareho tayong Sigma Rho, tayo ang magdebate (If you want to debate Tony Carpio, just the two of us. We’re both Sigma Rho, I’ll debate with you),” he added.
[Just Saying] Counterproductive Duterte utterances
May 10, 2021 2:12 PM PHT
Mel Sta Maria
China must be ecstatic. President Duterte, the Head of State of the Republic of the Philippines, publicly declared: Nag file sila ng kaso, nanalo tayo. Yang papel, sa totoong buhay, between nations, yang papel, wala yan…. Pinursue ko, walang nangyari. Actually, sa usapang bugoy, sabihin ko sa yo, Bigay mo sakin? Putangina papel lang yan. Itatapon ko yan sa waste basket. ”
When a President makes a statement concerning international affairs, it can be taken as his country’s foreign policy declaration. In international law, well-entrenched is the rule that the oral or written declarations of heads of state, heads of government, and ministers of foreign affairs can be the basis of international accountability or liability even in the absence of any treaty or bilateral/multilateral agreement regarding the pronouncements. This is why oral and written statements of Presidents or the