THE reasons behind the President backing out of a challenge he himself issued against former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, is that he suddenly realized it’s un-presidential for him to engage in a debate on issues concerning the West Philippine Sea.
“Ang problema rito nakalimutan ko ako ang Presidente,” said President Rodrigo Duterte days after presidential spokesman Secretary Harry Roque said that the Chief Executive heeded the advice of Cabinet secretaries who hinted at the possibility that the President could utter words misconstrued to be the national government’s foreign policy.
“I might bind future actions of government pagdating dito sa West Philippine Sea, pero du’n ako sa kahon. It’s not because I’m afraid of debates,” added Duterte who went on to insist on the one issue before going to other side issues.
“Sino ang nagbigay ng possession sa China sa West Philippine Sea? Sila, kung hindi sila umalis, wala sanang problema,” Duterte said.
“Hindi ako takot sa’yo. Ang problema, ‘di ko nga alam na ‘di ka presidente,” the President further said.
Duterte earlier challenged Carpio to a debate on the withdrawal of Navy ships during a 2012 standoff with China at Scarborough Shoal. He vowed to resign if proven false. The day after, Carpio accepted the challenge, only to find out later that the President has backed off and is instead sending over Roque as his proxy.