Duterte just joking when he invoked MDT: Carpio

July 17, 2019

President Rodrigo Duterte’s invocation of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) for the United States to attack China is a joke, Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said Wednesday.

"I think the President is just joking, just like his 'jetski' joke," Carpio said, in a statement.

''The President knows that the Philippines can invoke the Phil-US Mutual Defense Treaty only if there is an armed attack on Philippine territory or Philippine military ships or aircraft. This has not happened," Carpio said.

Carpio said the MDT operates only for self-defense, "not for aggression against another State."

"A war of aggression is prohibited by the Philippine Constitution and the United Nations Charter. A war of aggression makes leaders of the aggressor State liable for an international crime subject to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court," Carpio said. DMS