Camp Of Arroyo Blames Aquino Administration Over South China Sea Issues
Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her camp hit back the administration of the former President Benigno Aquino over South China Sea issues.
Former Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Estelito Mendoza, the legal counsel of Arroyo showed up at a press conference launching “The Ocean Space or Maritime Area of the Philippines,” which is a primer on the laws of the sea created by Mendoza.
Mendoza was the defense lawyer of the former President Arroyo in the plunder case she just won at the Supreme Court. Justice Secretary and Solicitor General to late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
The lawyer is blaming the Aquino administration’s arbitral case, which triggered China’s island construction in the disputed waters, through his remarks during the press conference.
In July 2016, the territorial claims of China were declined by the Permanent Court of Arbitration for they have enough evident to prove Beijing’s nine-dash line in the South China Sea. The Court declares that the Scarborough Shoal is a common fishing ground.
Arroyo’s legal counsel said that China has neglected the arbitral ruling by asserting indisputable sovereignty over the disputed waters. He also said that the tension rises to militarization and reclamation efforts.
“During the Aquino administration, so in effect we were fighting in the Hague, maybe we were winning in the Hague, but China outflanked us and China made it a point that while we were winning in the Hague, China was winning in the waters of the South China Sea,” said by Mendoza quoted by ABS-CBN.
Mendoza explained said that even China has taken the island, they were not used as fortresses for naval activities and armed action. He also said that during Arroyo’s administration there was a cooperative effort between the Philippines, China, and Vietnam.
