FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano on Monday said the people should trust President Duterte in his dealings with the Chinese, saying running the ship [of state] does not require many captains.
“What I’m saying is that ‘you to trust the captain of the ship, hindi puwedeng maraming kapitan [there shouldn’t be many captains]’,” he said in a news briefing before leaving to accompany the President on his official visit to Russia on Monday.
“What we will give you is one, we will not compromise and two, we will not give up our claims. We are working on the framework of the Philippine constitution, international treaties and local laws.”
Cayetano’s hurriedly called news conference was meant to defend Duterte from being accused of not standing up to China when the latter told him in a meeting in Beijing that China would go to war if the Philippine side insists on drilling for oil in the disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea.
Saying he is not at liberty to divulge the restricted meeting between Dutere and President Xi Jinping, Cayetano, however, revealed “the talk was about how to avoid conflict, how to have to mutual respect.”
“There was no language or even tone that would lead any of the presidents to believe that there were no disrespect for them or their countries.”
He added that the tenor of the talks “was very friendly, very refreshing and, in fact, both sides of the meeting went out satisfied that the dialogue will produce results.”
Duterte met Xi when the former attended a signing ceremony following their bilateral meeting held on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Cayetano justified that it is natural to mention the word “war” if parties are discussing about peace and conflict.
“I’m not denying the President’s speech,” he said, “but said the context of the talk is ‘how we start the dialogue’ and internal and external peace, national security and stability is part of the core belief of the program of President Duterte, [and] this is his campaign promise and the goal of the President.”
According to Cayetano, Duterte was forced to respond because he is being barraged by comments on what he should do with regard to the statement about the Asean, where to file the protest and where to send the Navy.
“Of course, if every day, for more than a week, he has people criticizing or telling him to do something else, he will have to give some kind of response.”
He was probably referring to former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, who said in a televised interview that “China’s threat of war to the Philippines over the South China Sea dispute shows that Beijing does not intend to respect the rule of law unless it benefits from it”.
Del Rosarion said, “China’s warning recently issued to President Rodrigo Duterte contradicted the Philippines’s adherence to the arbitral ruling over the disputed waters.
“Contrary to our position that right is might, China has strongly declared that it is might that will trump what is right. And finally that China—unless it stands to benefit— does not intend to respect the rule of law.”
The July 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling had invalidated China’s nine-dash line claim over nearly all of the resource-rich waters, favoring the Philippines’s plea to halt Chinese incursions into its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
China has defied the ruling, and has instead stepped up militarization and island-building activities in the area.
On the other hand, former Ambassador Jose Apolinario Lozada said: “China acted like a ‘bully’ when it threatened the Philippines with war over the South China Sea dispute.”
He said he was discouraged and disturbed with Beijing’s recent warning, saying it should have asked Manila to discuss the issue instead.
“I’m disturbed, I’m deeply disturbed with the statement that was told to us by the President when they [Chinese leaders] said they are going to war with us simply because we are going to insist on our claims over the islands, which we have been claiming ever since,” Lozada added.
Cayetano, on the other hand, said Duterte “told me many times that he’s committed to protecting our territorial integrity, he will protect every single inch of our territory. But trust him on how he will do it, how he will approach it and the strategy.”
Cayetano said in his view, Duterte is consistent with his response repeated several times before: “I don’t not want to go to war not because he’s afraid of anyone, but because many people will suffer in not only in that area but the whole of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, including the whole [Asian] region.”
He added that since Duterte is this year’s Asean chairman, “he is already thinking of next generation, that’s why he had the build, build, build and the bilateral consultative meeting”.
“We can’t be so naïve but we also can’t be so paranoid,” he added, saying a review of China’s history would reveal they have many boundary disputes because they’re big “but some of these where settled”.
He cited as example the maritime disputes between Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam, which they were able to settle amicably “and now profit from the resources there”. He also cited the peaceful settlement of maritime dispute between Singapore and Malaysia.