PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte Wednesday slammed Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio over his proposal to invoke the country's legal victory on the South China Sea.
"These stupid government [officials], they keep on egging me on the arbitral ruling. They said, ‘What are you doing on the arbitral [ruling]?’” Duterte said during the 119th anniversary celebration of Philippine Navy in Davao City.
“The arbitral ruling places the South China Sea in our jurisdiction. But the Chinese has insisted and has made well known their stand that it is theirs and they will die for it,” he added.
Duterte maintained that he cannot insist the Philippines' win in its arbitration case against China because it would only cause “trouble.”
He reiterated that he raised the international court’s decision on maritime dispute and his plan to dig oil in the resource-rich waters but echoed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s appeal not to proceed.
“Carpio keeps on harping [on South China Sea ruling]. Son of a b****, he did not do anything before. So he wants me to go to the UN (United Nations) for the enforcement [of the ruling],” the President said.
“If we do that, there will be war. There will be trouble. If you are an idiotic naïve, what does trouble mean? Trouble means war,” he added.
Carpio, who was part of the Philippine delegation to the Permanent Court of Arbitration that argued and won the country’s case against China, has repeatedly called on the current administration to uphold the decision favoring the Philippines.
In July 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration said that China has baseless claims on the South China Sea.
Duterte, however, remained resolute on not insisting the ruling as he seeks peaceful resolution with the Chinese government.
He said Carpio should have urged his predecessor, former President Benigno Aquino III to stop China on its reclamation and militarization activities, rather than dictating him on what he should do.
“Why did Carpio not tell Noynoy (Aquino), ‘Go there and stop them.’ [But] then, they allowed the construction to bloom. Now, it is almost a gunnery thing there. There’s a missile already,” Duterte said. (SunStar Philippines)
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