Rody won’t go after political enemies

MANILA, Philippines – Incoming president Rodrigo Duterte vowed yesterday not to run after his political enemies, but stressed he would ask them to explain certain issues.

Duterte said he would start with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, from whom he wants an explanation as to why the country has lost control over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal off Zambales.

“Maybe when I sit as president, I would be asking (some questions). I am not going to prosecute, I am not up to it actually – going after political enemies. But I would just be interested to know why we lost the Scarborough Shoal,” Duterte said in a late night live interview over GMA-7’s Saksi on Tuesday. 

Trillanes lost in the recent vice presidential race. The senator left for Hawaii last Tuesday. A source said Trillanes was on a business trip.

Duterte earlier said Trillanes may have committed treason when he engaged Chinese officials in talks over the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea issue.

Trillanes was a critic of Duterte during the 90-day campaign period.

The senator said Duterte could face impeachment for making remarks that the Philippines has lost its claim to Panatag Shoal.

“Just to inform Mayor Duterte, there is no reclamation in Panatag and I have our national security officials on record during two Senate hearings that we have not lost Panatag, contrary to some unfounded media reports,” Trillanes said.

He said President Aquino had appointed him backchannel negotiator to help ease tensions with China in 2012 following a standoff between the Philippine Navy and Chinese vessels in the resource-rich Panatag Shoal, which is also called Bajo de Masinloc.

But Duterte stood firm that he would press Trillanes to explain why the country lost a territory to China.

“It is not a matter of territorial issues, but it is an issue of an exclusive economic zone... that would be according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), that is our economic zone,” he said.

“Now, if you put something there, if there is a garrison, there is an obstruction in the waters then it diminishes your interest, economic zone and therefore, in a way you are violating the UNCLOS and also you (also) impeded the freedom of navigation,” he said.

Asked about his stand on the country’s maritime spat with China, Duterte said he is willing to hold bilateral talks with Beijing or enter into a joint exploration agreement with the Asian power. He also made clear he supports the country’s arbitration case before the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague.

China has refused to participate in proceedings in the arbitral court, insisting it has sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea.

Per policy basis

Meanwhile, senatorial aspirant and former justice secretary Leila de Lima said she would not give “blanket support” to Duterte, whom she had criticized for alleged human rights violations. “My support for him will be on a per-policy basis,” she told ABS-CBN News Channel.

She said among the incoming administration’s policy initiatives she would support are the resumption of peace talks and the continuation of the Aquino administration’s programs like the conditional cash transfer.

She said she would oppose Duterte’s proposal for the reimposition of the death penalty.

“There is no empirical data to support the claim that the death penalty deters crime,” she said.

De Lima said she fears that if capital punishment were restored, “poor and innocent people would be put to death because they have no access to good lawyers and our justice system is imperfect.” – With Rudy Santos