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[av_heading heading=’Amid threat of China encroachment on Scarborough | Carpio, Pangilinan urge Rody to retract ‘walang magagawa’ quip’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
By Prince Golez, Manila Reporter
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Thursday, March 23, 2017
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MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte should “reconsider” his previous statement that the Philippines cannot stop China from building structures on Scarborough Shoal, said Sen. Francis Pangilinan.
The senator said he also supports Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio’s call for Duterte to defend the country’s territory.
“We cannot simply say we are helpless when 300,000 square kilometres of our territorial waters, an area of about 381,000 square kilometres of our national territory is being annexed by a foreign power,” Pangilinan said.
“It’s even bigger than the total land area of the Philippines. Given such an area, we just cannot say, ‘walang magagawa’.”
Carpio earlier said Duterte’s statement before he left for Myanmar “encourages China to build on Scarborough Shoal.”
According to him, the country’s claim of sovereignty over the disputed territory is stipulated under Republic Act 9522, which defined the archipelagic baselines of the Philippines, the senior justice said.
The government, the senior justice added, should “file a strong formal protest” against China and “send the Philippine Navy to patrol Scarborough Shoal.”
He also encouraged the President to ask the United States for support and “accept the standing US offer to hold joint naval patrols in the South China Sea, which includes Scarborough Shoal.”
The chief executive was also reminded to “avoid any act, statement or declaration that expressly and impliedly waives Philippine sovereignty to any Philippine territory in the West Philippine Sea.”/PN
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