Duterte eyes Spratlys ‘vacation’ with Duque, Americans

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — President Duterte wants to take a vacation somewhere in the country, possibly the Spratlys, and wants to invite Americans to join the tour.

“One of these days, magtawag ako ng bakasyon. Bakasyon tayo. Mamili ka sa lugar, Secretary. Huwag lang sa labas ng Pilipinas. Dito lang (I will take a vacation. Let’s have a vacation. Choose a place, Secretary. But not outside the Philippines, let’s just stay here),” Duterte said in a televised public address on Monday night, addressing Health chief Francisco Duque III.

“Maybe we will visit Spratlys. But we will also invite the Americans to come along. We’re going on a sight-seeing tour,” he added.

Duterte asked Duque to join him in the vacation.

The President told Duque not to quit his post, saying they were “on the same boat” and he knows the difficulties of his job.

During the presidential campaign in 2016, Duterte offered to go to the Spratlys on a jet ski and plant the Philippine flag to assert the country’s sovereignty.

The President later clarified that his statement was meant to stress his point that he would not  give up the country’s claims in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Phl won’t abandon WPS – Lorenzana

The Philippine government will not yield the country’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone amid China’s reclamation and militarization activities in the West Philippine Sea, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana assured lawmakers yesterday.

“Tuloy tuloy lang po ang laban (The fight continues),” Lorenzana told the House committee on appropriations chaired by Rep. Eric Go Yap during the hearing of the P209.1-billion proposed budget for the Department of National Defense for 2021.

Lorenzana assured lawmakers that the government would not abandon its mandate of protecting the country’s territory even if China continues to fortify its military presence by expanding artificial islands in the West Philippine Sea.

He said the Philippine Air Force and Philippine Navy would continue to secure the West Philippine Sea.

Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto has filed a resolution calling on Malacañang to bar Chinese firms involved in the reclamation and eventual militarization of artificial islands in the West Philippine Sea from engaging in projects in the country.

Recto sought the adoption of Resolution 507 entitled “Expressing the sense of the Senate to prohibit from receiving awards for government contracts or conducting business in the Philippines foreign entities that have engaged in or abetted activities that infringe on the sovereignty of the country over the WPS and other areas within its territorial jurisdiction.”

He said the Constitution mandates the state to protect the nation’s marine wealth in its archipelagic waters, territorial sea and exclusive economic zone, and reserve its use and enjoyment exclusively to Filipinos.

“China’s construction of the ‘Great Wall of Sand’ and the rampant militarization of the maritime area within or in proximity to the WPS have affected the lives and threatened the livelihood of Filipinos in terms of degradation of the environment and deterioration of fisheries production,” Recto said.

He said conservative estimates from a maritime expert from the University of the Philippines Maritime Science Institute showed that the Philippines is losing about P33.1 billion annually in terms of food and other resource production, climate and environmental regulation, animal habitat provision and cultural and recreational services due to the damaged ecosystems in Panatag Shoal and the Spratlys Island brought about by dredging, reclamation activities and illegal fishing conducted by Chinese entities.

Recto noted the US government imposed sanctions against China for dredging and reclaiming more than 3,000 acres of artificial islands within or in proximity to the West Philippine Sea, “instigating destabilization in the region, encroaching on the rights of sovereign nations and causing untold levels of environmental destruction.”

Washington has also imposed visa restrictions against Chinese individuals responsible for, or complicit in, either the large-scale reclamation, construction, militarization of disputed maritime feature within or in proximity to the West Philippine Sea, or the use of coercion against Southeast Asian claimants to inhibit their access to offshore resources, he said.

Recto lamented that the Philippine government has yet to impose sanctions against any Chinese enterprise or entity despite being directly affected by their aggressive reclamation activities, establishment of Chinese districts on disputed maritime features and continuous military buildup in areas within the country’s exclusive economic zone. – Delon Porcalla, Paolo Romero