MANILA, Philippines — Hours after presidential spokesman Harry Roque touted his international law experience and told a senator to enroll in one of his classes, the country's top diplomat said he would not heed the spokesman's musings on foreign policy.
Roque's recent comments on China's new law allowing its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels and the military coup in Myanmar prompted Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. to tell him to "lay off."
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The Philippines last week filed a diplomatic protest over the controversial new law, which also allows China's coast guard to demolish other countries' structures on Chinese-claimed reefs and to inspect foreign vessels in waters claimed by Beijing, including the West Philippine Sea.
Palace denies Beijing law killed hope for South China Sea code of conduct:https://t.co/EoBJ619laD via @ABSCBNNews I AM NOT LISTENING TO HARRY ROQUE. LOVE THE GUY BUT HE'S NOT COMPETENT IN THIS FIELD. WE DO NOT GO BACK TO The Hague. WE MIGHT LOSE WHAT WE WON. HARRY, LAY OFF.
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) February 1, 2021
Explaining his change of heart on the issue, which he previously said was "none of our business," Locsin called the law "a verbal threat of war."
Amid the controversy stirred by Beijing's new coast guard law, two Chinese-owned ships have recently flouted protocols in Philippine territory.
The first offender, a dredger seized by the coast guard for its unauthorized presence near the vicinity of Bataan, and the second, per a report from the Inquirer, a research ship that also entered Philippine waters without clearance and denied the PCG permission to board, supposedly due to COVID-19 protocols.
Roque on Monday took a swipe at Sen. Risa Hontiveros for urging the Palace to release a strong statement in response to the law. Asked about the matter during a virtual briefing, Roque said partially in Filipino: "Don't worry... If you want, if I go back to teaching, you can enroll in my class. I just don't know what your grade will be."
"Kung mag-aaral ako ulit, hindi sa ‘yo (If I study again, it won't be under you)," Hontiveros responded on Twitter.
"It would be a waste of tuition if the person teaching the international law course is you," she added in Filipino.
O, baka sabihin mo naman dinidiktahan kita kung anong gagawin mo. Kung mag-aaral ako ulit, hindi sa ‘yo. Sayang lang ang tuition kung ikaw ang magiging guro sa mga kurso sa international law. Ipantutulong ko na lang sa mga mangingisda sa West Philippine Sea. https://t.co/8Dt5ZjR3zS
— risa hontiveros (@risahontiveros) February 1, 2021
The coup in Myanmar
Locsin on Tuesday insisted that Roque "does not express foreign policy," responding to an AFP report carried by Yahoo! News, where the spokesman is quoted as saying Philippine "armed forces are on standby in case we need to airlift [Filipinos in Myanmar] as well as Navy ships to repatriate them if necessary."
US leads world condemnation of Myanmar's military coup https://t.co/LLEf1Yf1PM via @yahooph PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESPERSON HARRY ROQUE DOES NOT EXPRESS FOREIGN POLICY. THAT WAS HIS PERSONAL OPINION. AND THE LAST THING WE WILL DO IS ASSEMBLE OUR ARMED FORCES TO EVACUATE OUR NATIONALS.
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) February 1, 2021
"That was [Roque's] personal opinion," Locsin wrote in capitalized letters.
The top diplomat also disputed Roque's assertion that the country's military forces were on standby to evacuate Filipinos from Myanmar if needed, calling it "the last thing we will do."
Myanmar's military declared a one-year state of emergency on Monday and appointed a general as acting president, after arresting civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior officials.
The Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday told reporters that some 1,273 Filipinos are in Myanmar as of June 2020, many of whom "work in the manufacturing industry as supervisors" and for agencies of the United Nations as well as other international organizations.
RELATED: Myanmar's military stages coup, detains Aung San Suu Kyi
— with a report from Agence France-Presse