CHINA did not make Duterte become Philippine president.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque dismissed the accusation of former Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Albert Del Rosario, who alleged that China interfered in the 2016 Philippine presidential elections to get Rodrigo Duterte elected into the most powerful post.
In a press briefing, Roque warded off the former Foreign Affairs chief’s accusation as non-sense and went farther by accusing the latter of being a “traitor” to the country.
“Kalokohan po ‘yan coming from a proven traitor,” Roque said.
Roque said that it was Del Rosario who, during his stint as DFA chief, ordered Filipino soldiers to leave Scarborough Shoal at the height of the country’s standoff with Beijing.
“Siya po ang nagpaalis sa ating mga kasundaluhan sa boro na naging ang Tsina na lang ang natira sa Scarborough Shoal,” he said.
The Palace official also urged “lawyers and other groups to study the legal liability of Albert del Rosario in ceding Scarborough shoal to China.”
He also asked Del Rosario to shut up until he can prove that the country lost a portion of its territory to another country during the Duterte administration.
“Mangilabot ka naman sa mga sinasabi mo, ikaw diyan ang namigay ng teritoryo eh,” Roque said.
Earlier in the day, Del Rosario on Monday said China interfered in the 2016 Philippine presidential elections to get Rodrigo Duterte elected.
“On February 22, 2019, we received information from a most reliable international entity that high officials from China are bragging that they had been able to influence the 2016 Philippine elections so that Duterte would be president,” Del Rosario told an online forum on the commemoration of the Philippines’ international arbitral tribunal victory against China.
“We believe that our Beijing post can easily validate this. Moreover, subsequent actions of the President lend more credence to this information,” added Del Rosario, who led the Philippines’ arbitral tribunal victory against China in 2016.
Asked to provide more details, the former top Philippine diplomat said his information came from a “highly trustworthy” source.
Duterte is known to be very close to Chinese Prime Minister Xi Jinping who in 2016 promised billions of dollars in aid and investments.
The Philippines won against China in a landmark ruling on July 12, 2016 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which invalidated Beijing’s massive claim over the resource-rich South China Sea.
It was only in 2020 or four years after the ruling was handed down by the The Hague-based court that Duterte invoked the arbitral award against China in his address before the United Nations.
Duterte declared before the UN General Assembly in September last year that the ruling is “beyond compromise and beyond the reach of passing governments to dilute, diminish or abandon.”
Duterte also shelved the arbitration ruling when he assumed office in 2016 and has been criticized for his friendly overtures to China despite its aggressive actions and efforts to drive away Filipinos from its own waters in the West Philippine Sea.
Several months later, Duterte, in a public address, dismissed the ruling as “scrap of paper that is intended for the waste basket.”
(PHOTO CREDIT: pna.gov.ph)