President Duterte is going to China next week.
He expects to bring home a lot in terms of promised investments and assistance.
In fact, the delivery of the largesse from China has already started. Last week, Malacañang announced the lifting of the embargo on the exports of banana to China and tourists to the Philippines which was imposed when the government of Benigno Aquino III sued in the Arbitral Court in January 2013 to nullify China’s nine-dash line map which included substantial portion of Philippine territory.
Duterte has been talking a lot about China financing the building of rehabilitation centers for drug addicts in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.
But topmost in his agenda is for the Filipino fishermen to be able fish again in Scarborough Shoal, 124 nautical miles from Zambales, which has been in control of China since April 2012 due to the mishandling of the situation by Aquino and Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario.
The loss of Scarborough shoal is the legacy of Aquino to the Filipino people. Yet many hail him for winning the case in the Arbitral Court.
The Arbitral Court said that Scarborough Shoal is a rock and is not entitled to a 200 nautical mile economic exclusive zone.
The Arbitral Court further said that Scarborough Shoal has been a traditional fishing ground of Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese as well as fishermen of other nationalities and should continue to be so.
China’s blocking of Filipino fishermen’s access to the shoal, the Arbitral Court further said.
The Duterte government has agreed to China’s condition that any talk on Scarborough and the Spratlys should not mention the Arbitral Court decision.
But at the same time, Duterte seems to have downgraded, not only the value of the Arbitral Court decision, but also the importance of Scarborough Shoal, which he compares to a tilapia fishpond. Here are his statements:
In a speech last October 4 in the Sulong Pilipinas Convention he said: “Here is the arbitral judgment that we are entitled to the entitlements, it is not a territorial thing. Twelve miles lang iyan eh, that’s it. Iyong 200 miles, parang fishpond iyan o. Philippines ito iyong fishpond mo, kanya-kanya tayong fishpond. Itong pinag-awayan dito, iyong fishpond, iyong mga tilapia sa loob pati iyong... kung may oil diyan. This is a territorial. So we won, right, but what do you want? There are two ways of doing it. We seize it forcefully, or we talk? Mamili kayo diyan. Eh kung gusto niyo iyan, eh okay lang naman.”
He repeated this last Tuesday during the mass oath taking of the officials of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines: “May arbitral ruling tayo, we won. We are entitled to the entitlements of that part of the South China Sea na atin.
Entitlements, it is not territory, the territory is 12 miles. Beyond that is iyong ating… tinatawag natin parang fish pond. Lahat naman tayo binigyang ng fish pond o, iyan inyo, inyo Philippines. You have a, count it from the outermost line then do a line there and that’s yours. Lahat tayo may ganoong. But China is claimed it to be part of their historic sovereign territory. Okay tayo ang nagfile, panalo tayo. Okay magbotohan tayo. I will insist, pag ayaw nilang ibigay atakihin ko sila, I’ll start war.
Mapahiya tayo pag hindi. O ito, o sino ngayon magsabi ito, birahan natin bukas. Padala ko yung Navy doon bukas. I’ll send the gray ships there. It will be massacre, and to top it all the battle ground would be Palawan…”
The President is getting confused. He is talking of sending ships to Scarborough Shoal, which is in Zambales, and he talks of Palawan as battle ground.
In Lamitan also last Tuesday, he was clearer with his decision: “Wag na muna nating pakialamanan iyang Scarborough, kasi hindi natin kaya eh. Magalit man tayo hangin lang, hindi natin kaya. So mag-usap muna lang tayo, sabihin ko na lang na ipabalik mo lang iyang mga kapatid kong Pilipino mangisda saka mag-usap tayo.”
With the Philippine President asking the permission of China to allow Filipino fishermen in Scarborough Shoal, isn’t it a recognition of China’s sovereignty over the disputed area?
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Blog: www.ellentordesillas.com
E-mail: ellentordesillas@gmail.com
source: Malaya Column of Ellen Tordesillas
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