PH joint exploration with China to continue sans sovereignty recognition, says Palace

October 28, 2019

The Philippines will push for joint exploration in the West Philippine Sea with China even if there is no recognition on the country's sovereignty for as long as the contract is advantageous to Manila, Malacanang said on Monday.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made the statement after Vice President Leni Robredo said China should first recognize Philippine ownership and sovereignty over the area that would be subject of the joint oil and gas exploration.

"Well in relation to West Philippine Sea, we know that China is not recognizing our rights over there. In fact, they’re saying that it’s theirs but nevertheless they are open to negotiation so if it’s open then we will proceed provided the terms are to our favor," he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said China has agreed to a 60-40 sharing in favor of the Philippines.

In the same briefing, Panelo hit Robredo for her recent statements against the Duterte administration, particularly on the war on drugs.

"Sometimes VP Leni whenever she makes a statement, she's divorced from reality," he said, citing Robredo's apparent flip-flopping on her statement about the government's campaign against illegal drugs.

"Like in the war on drugs, she said it's a failure. Then she made a turn around now, saying that that was not she meant," he said.

In her weekly radio program over the weekend, Robredo clarified that she did not ask the administration to stop the campaign against narcotics as it was just a failure.

She has said that she just urged the government to assess the strategies since for the past three years, many people have been killed, and yet the number of drug addicts continue to increase. Celerina Monte/DMS