Dr. Florangel Rosario Braid
It is about time for us, all Filipino citizens, to take a united stand on the West Philippine Sea, and demand that our leaders do the same.
Our confused state, the mixed messages we send, and flip-flopping from President Duterte has set us back in our advocacy. We have wasted time and resources that should have been committed in the pursuit of our goal if our leaders had been single-minded in their advocacy.
In this timeline, are actions and statements made by Manila and Beijing during the months of April and May, 2021:
April 5: Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana accuses Beijing of planning to occupy more “features” in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) with reports that a fleet of 220 Chinese ships in the area. This sparked a diplomatic row with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) filing several protests. Manila had asked Beijing to withdraw its “maritime militia” vessels which China had refused, insisting they were fishing boats.
President Rodrigo Duterte (File photo/Malacañang)
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque came to the President’s defense after an online petition has been initiated urging Duterte to retract alleged “damaging” statements related to the West Philippine Sea. The petition, filed by former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio at change.org website, has earned more than 6,900 signatures.
When Duterte claimed China was in possession of the West Philippine Sea, Roque clarified the President was referring to Scarborough Shoal. He mentioned the President’s previous account that the country’s ship pullout led to the loss of the shoal to China in 2012.
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May 17, 2021
Former Philippines Supreme Court Justice Antonio T. Carpio speaks at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, D.C., October 5, 2015.
Credit: Flickr/CSIS | Center for Strategic & International Studies
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Opposition groups in the Philippines have joined forces in a bid to defeat the party or anointed successor of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The country’s presidential election is scheduled for May 9, 2022. Duterte is constitutionally barred from seeking a second term, but some of his supporters are urging him to run as vice president if his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, decides to seek the presidency. In recent months, “Run Sara Run” banners have sprouted across the country in public places,
By CONSUELO MARQUEZ, GMA News
Published May 16, 2021 3:22pm It was duplicitous and deceitful of China to breach the 2012 agreement between Beijing and Manila in which both parties agreed to simultaneously withdraw their vessels from the Scarborough Shoal, former Philippine Ambassador to United States Jose Cuisia said Sunday. Cuisia said the United States confirmed to him that China had agreed to do the simultaneous withdrawal and they expected the fellow Asian country to abide by the agreement. We had an agreement with China brokered by the United States particularly Assistant Secretary [Kurt] Campbell that we will simultaneously withdraw ships from the Scarborough Shoal. It is China who breached the agreement as [former DFA] Secretary [Albert] del Rosario said China is to blame for that because we acted in good faith, Cuisia told GMA News Online in an interview via Zoom.
Published May 11, 2021, 5:00 PM
Even with President Rodrigo Duterte singing a different tune that he can no longer take back territories claimed by China, the Department of Energy (DOE) stated that it is bent on awarding more petroleum service contracts at blocks straddled by disputed territories within the West Philippine Sea.
“The DOE has been busy seeking investors into petroleum blocks in the West Philippine Sea,” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi has specified in his statement to the media.
Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi
He added that aside from the service contracts already awarded, the energy department is still
processing several new applications for prospective oil/gas exploration and development ventures in that diplomatically strained domain.