“Free to dream” someday Philippines to acquire artificial islands in South China Sea, Roque says

February 9, 2018

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Friday it is "free to dream" someday the Philippines could have artificial islands China built in the disputed South China Sea.

Roque was reacting to the statement of Senator Grace Poe who said the spokesman was engaged in "wishful thinking" that someday the Philippines would thank China for constructing artificial islands in the disputed waters.

Roque, in his recent Facebook video, said since China's construction took place within the Philippine territory, the artificial islands may eventually belong to Manila when Beijing's might has ceased.

But Poe has said Roque's wishful thinking was "like saying that a homeowner may soon be thankful to a gang of fully armed men who unlawfully intruded his place for some time and made it their safe house, which in effect prevented other criminals from ransacking the same."

"And this comes with false hopes that the gang members will decide to give the house back, if they have not yet transferred the title under their name,” she added.

Roque, however, in a press briefing in Camarines Sur, said, "Senator, sorry, it's free to dream."

He said it is free to dream because the Philippines has "sovereign rights on its EEZ (exclusive economic zone) where the (artificial) islands are."

"So ergo, if there will be a chance, we can have those islands," he stressed.

The United Nations Arbitral Tribunal has ruled in 2016 that the Philippines has sovereign rights over those areas within its 200 nautical miles EEZ, contrary to China's historic claim through nine-dash line in almost the entire South China Sea.

Roque, who is following the policy of President Rodrigo Duterte to have a soft and friendly stance with China, said it was not right to compare Beijing to "thief and gang."

"Let's just say there is dispute, there is misunderstanding, there is quarrel. But all of those can be resolved through peaceful means," he said.

China has built artificial islands in seven reefs and atolls in the South China Sea, including those within the Philippine EEZ. Celerina Monte/DMS