11/05/2021
'KUNG NANIWALA KAYO, I WOULD SAY THAT YOU ARE REALLY STUPID.'
(UPDATED) It was “bravado” and a “pure campaign joke," President Rodrigo Duterte said about a declaration he made during his campaign to personally ride a jet ski and plant the Philippine flag at the Spratly Islands.
"Alam mo, panahon ng kampanya 'yon. Hindi sanay itong mga g*g* sa style ko sa kampanya," Duterte said in his prerecorded address to the nation tonight. "Kung naniwala kayo sa kabila, I would say that you are really stupid."
It can be recalled that the President claimed in his previous address on May 3 that he never made the promise to "retake the West Philippine Sea." He also downplayed the 2016 arbitration ruling won by the country in The Hague, regarding it as a "piece of paper" to be "thrown away in the waste basket."
During a presidential debate in 2016, then Mayor Duterte quipped his infamous jet ski remark, saying: “Bababa ako at sasakay ako ng jetski, dala-dala ko ang flag ng Pilipino at pupunta ako sa airport [ng China] tapos itanim ko. I will say, 'This is ours and do what you want with me."
Critics have consistently blasted the President for his "defeatist" attitude in defending the country's sovereignty against Beijing. Lawmakers, including administration allies, have aired their disappointment.
Senator Panfilo Lacson noted that Duterte’s stance on the issue might be seen as a sign of surrender, which he added could be “disastrous” to the country’s position on the dispute with China. "We cannot wave the white flag, so to speak,” he said last April.
Meanwhile, Senator Risa Hontiveros previously asked if the President was a "coward or a traitor," adding: “We should not allow a president who gives up our sovereignty like loose change." | Denver Del Rosario, INQUIRER.net
