MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said he is willing to quit public service if proven that the Philippines lost an island to China under the Duterte administration.
Cayetano, speaking during a flag-raising ceremony at the Department of Foreign Affairs, challenged his critics to prove which features on the South China Sea were "lost" during the time of Duterte.
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"I challenge anyone of them. Whatever their professions are—justice, politician, newsman, journalist—if we lost a single island during Duterte's time, I will pack my bags, go home and I will not serve the public in any elected or appointed position," Cayetano said.
Since the year started, China has deployed surface-to-air and cruise missiles, radio jamming equipment and military transport aircraft to its "big three" islands in the Spratly group.
Beijing's outposts—Fiery Cross Reef, Mischief Reef and Subi Reef—are all subject of the July 2016 tribunal ruling by a United Nations-backed tribunal.
The tribunal classified Fiery Cross or Kagitingan Reef as a rock, which is allowed a 12-nautical mile territorial sea. In 2014, China began reclamation activities to construct an artificial island.
Four years later, Fiery Cross Reef is considered as the "most advanced" of China's bases in the South China Sea with hardened shelters with retractable roofs that could house missile launchers, as well as hangars that could accommodate 24 combat aircraft and four larger planes. The artificial island also now has a runway long enough to land a Chinese Xian H-6 bomber.
Subi Reef, meanwhile, was classified as a low-tide elevation which does not merit maritime entitlement. The tribunal ruled that China violated its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea with its island-building activities at Subi Reef.
Like Fiery Cross Reef, Subi also has hangars for 24 combat aircraft. Also placed in the artificial island is a high-frequency "elephant cage" radar array that can provide protection against air or missile strikes.
Located 250 kilometers west of Palawan, Mischief Reef is the closest Chinese outpost to the Philippines. Beijing has been occupying the reef since 1995 but only started to transform it into an artificial island by the end of 2013. The reef now sports a large harbor, a runway and anti-aircraft weapons.
The 2016 arbitral ruling classified Mischief Reef as part of the Philippines' exclusive economic zone and continental shelf as it lies within 200 nautical miles of the country's coast.
The Philippines can exercise sole right to explore and exploit natural and biological resources.
In defense of its recent deployments on its outposts in the Spratlys, China insisted that it has "indisputable sovereignty" over the features in the South China Sea, including the features also being claimed by the Philippines.
Technically, the Philippines did not lose control of these features under the current administration as China had started reclaiming the reefs even before President Rodrigo Duterte took office on June 30, 2016.
Duterte has been insisting that the arbitral ruling was not issued under his administration, which is not the case as it was issued weeks after he assumed office.
What the Duterte administration lost is the country's diplomatic victory for setting aside the arbitration and opting to conduct a bilateral consultation mechanism with China.
Despite China's increasing militarization in the disputed South China Sea, the Philippines refuses to file a diplomatic protest against Beijing.