Retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio and Former President Rodrigo Duterte. (INQUIRER and PRESIDENTIAL file photos)
Published March 28, 2024
MANILA, Philippines – Former President Rodrigo Duterte surrendered the Philippines’ sovereign rights over Ayungin Shoal in what was disguised as a “gentlemen’s agreement” with China.
This statement comes from Former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio.
The “gentlemen’s agreement” governs Manila’s maintenance and repair of the BRP Sierra Madre, a Philippine Navy vessel grounded in the disputed area.
According to Duterte’s “status quo” agreement, the Philippine vessel may only deliver water and food to Sierra Madre, but not construction materials for its repairs.
Carpio said the agreement favoring China violated the July 12, 2016 Arbitral Tribunal’s ruling recognizing Ayungin Shoal as part of the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
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SOURCE: www.globalnation.inquirer.net
RELATED: Philippines’s Marcos promises measures after China’s ‘dangerous attacks’
President says country will respond to South China Sea confrontations with proportionate measures after Filipino soldiers injured.
Marcos’s remarks came as China blamed Philippine actions for recent rising tensions [File: Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP]
Published March 28, 2024
President Ferdinand Marcos says the Philippines will take countermeasures against China after confrontations in the South China Sea last week injured Filipino soldiers and damaged vessels.
“We seek no conflict with any nation, more so nations that purport and claim to be our friends but we will not be cowed into silence, submission, or subservience,” Marcos said in a statement on Thursday.
He said the Philippines would respond with a “countermeasure package that is proportionate, deliberate, and reasonable in the face of the open, unabating, and illegal, coercive, aggressive, and dangerous attacks by agents of the China Coast Guard and the Chinese Maritime Militia”.
He added: “Filipinos do not yield.”
Marcos’s remarks came as China blamed Philippine actions for recent rising tensions between the countries in the hotly contested waterway, which Beijing claims almost entirely.
The two countries have a long history of maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and there have been repeated confrontations between their vessels near disputed reefs in recent months.
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SOURCE: www.aljazeera.com
RELATED: PCG vessel hits China coast guard ship that blocked its path
Published March 27, 2024
The Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Sindangan accidentally hit a China Coast Guard ship that blocked its path on Saturday.
According to a report on “24 Oras,” the Philippine Coast Guard said the CCG boat 4103 chased the Philippine vessel and blocked its path to prevent it from catching up with the resupply boat Unaizah May 4.
The PCG vessel accidentally hit the Chinese ship because of the latter’s speed.
