SC Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio says Pres. Duterte has at least five options in dealing with China.
CARPIO SAYS – Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has a minimum of five choices in dealing with China’s incursion into the territory of the Philippines.
Based on a recent news report in Inquirer, Pres. Duterte’s admission that he could not stop Beijing from putting up a structure on the disputed shoal was followed by the expression of advice of SC Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio to the President.
According to SC Senior Associate Justice Carpio, statements that entail that the PH cannot stop China from putting up structures on the disputed shoal is an encouragement on the part of China.
Based on the report, the SC Senior Associate Justice, one of the members of the team who was victorious in the challenge of the country to the claims of China over the disputed areas, expressed that Pres. Duterte has at least five choices.
According to Carpio, Pres. Duterte can launch a “strong formal protest” versus the plan of Beijing to put up a structure on the disputed areas.
A Philippine Navy ship could also be deployed by the Philippine leader according to the SC Senior Associate Justice. The vessel would be deployed to patrol on the disputed shoal. Carpio also said that an aid from the United States can be sought.
Based on the report, Carpio expressed that, just like Japan in its ownership of Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, the Philippines can ask the U.S. to recognize the Scarborough Shoal as part of the territories of the country “for purposes”.
The SC Senior Associate Justice also said that the Philippine President can consider the invitation of the U.S. on conducting joint naval patrols.
According to him, it will show that the two countries are determined to stop China from putting up a structure on the disputed shoal.
Based on a previous news report, Pres. Duterte expressed that he cannot allow the Filipino soldiers to go on the disputed areas to avoid casualties.
According to the 71-year-old President, the country cannot match the might of China and is not “in a position” to declare for a war.
Meanwhile, he said that he told China that someday he will have to confront them most probably during the time that they will start extracting minerals from the sea.