Malacañang on Monday rejected the latest Social Weather Stations survey showing four out of every five Filipinos disagree with the government’s inaction on China’s militarization of the West Philippine Sea.
“Actually, 100 percent of the Filipinos should disagree because we will not really allow that another state will take our territory. There is no such thing as government inaction,” Presidential Spokesman Henry Roque told dzRH radio.
He said President Rodrigo Duterte had repeatedly said he would never give up any of the country’s territories.
“Every time China does something that is against our sovereignty, we air our protest but we do it quietly. It is not true that President Duterte is not doing anything,” Roque said.
Roque was referring to the Bicameral Consultative Mechanism where China and the Philippines tackle contentious issues, including China’s militarization of the West Philippine Sea.
“For him [Duterte], the contentious issues which cannot be resolved immediately should be temporarily set aside and instead focus on the non-contentious issues such as economic and trade that we should push through,” Roque said.
Two years ago, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the Philippines’ arbitration case, nullifying China’s nine-dash line map that covers almost the entire South China Sea.
China rejected the decision, prompting Duterte to temporarily shelve the verdict to give way for friendly negotiations.