Palace: Marcos upheld 2016 arbitral ruling; Duterte treated it as 'scrap of paper'

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is upholding the 2016 arbitral ruling, which Malacañang said former President Benigno Aquino III fought for during his term and which former President Rodrigo Duterte treated as a scrap of paper when he came to power.

Palace Press Officer Usec. Claire Castro indicated this in the wake of the 10th anniversary of the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which invalidated China’s massive claims in the West Philippine Sea and upheld the Philippines' exclusive economic zone on July 12, 2016.

On the 10th anniversary of the ruling, the Philippines and 13 other countries reiterated that there is no legal basis for China's claims in the South China Sea.

“Totoo naman na ipinaglaban ito sa panahon ni PNoy pero sa panahon ni dating Pangulong Duterte, ang arbitral award or ruling ay kinonsidera lamang na simpleng papel na pwedeng itapon sa basurahan,” Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said.

(This was indeed fought for during the time of PNoy, but during the administration of former President Duterte, the arbitral award or ruling was regarded as merely a piece of paper that could be thrown into the trash.)

Castro cited the time when then-Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Duterte ordered the stop to the construction on Sandy Cay due to strong opposition from China.

“Hindi po kasi ganyan ang polisiya ang ating Pangulo. Ipaglaban ang ating karapatan sa diplomatikong pamamaraan,” Castro said.

(That is not the President’s policy. His policy is to uphold our rights through diplomatic means.)

Duterte policy

The arbitral tribunal upheld the Philippines' EEZ and invalidated China's claims over most of the South China Sea on July 12, 2016, just weeks after Duterte took his oath as President on June 30 that year.

In September 2016, he declared that the Philippines under his administration would pursue an independent foreign policy.

In December 2016, Duterte said during a Saturday morning news conference in Davao City that he would not press China on the arbitral tribunal's ruling on the South China Sea, despite China's alleged placement of weapon systems on the Johnson Reef.

He said he was setting aside the arbitral ruling.

Then-Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay, a few days later, reaffirmed the government’s support for the arbitral decision but said it was not yet time to raise the matter with Beijing while both sides were in the process of mending their ties.

In May 2021, Duterte referred to the arbitral ruling as a piece of paper he could throw in the wastebasket after former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario urged him to go to the United Nations and assert the country's victory before the tribunal.

He said Chinese President Xi Jinping had told him there might be trouble if the Philippines insisted on its claims.

Less than a year before, in September 2020, Duterte in his speech before the UN said the Philippines rejected any attempt to undermine the ruling of the arbitral tribunal.

In September 2023, more than a year after he left office, Duterte said he disagreed with China's adoption of a new standard map that placed nearly the entire South China Sea within its national boundaries and infringed on the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

In an SMNI Network interview on Tuesday, Duterte said he was friends with Chinese President Xi Jinping but added that he disagreed with the "ten-dash-line" map.

“China is a friend…but I would state now that hindi ako sang-ayon sa ten-dash-line,” said Duterte.

National interest

In the news briefing on Monday, Castro cited Marcos’s order to remove the floating barrier that the Chinese Coast Guard placed in the southeast portion of the Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal in September 2023.

“Hindi nag-atubili ang Pangulo na gawin ang nararapat. Hindi nag-provoke ng war. Hindi nagkaroon ng kaguluhan, pero ipinaglaban ang karapatan at interes ng ating bansa,” she said.

(The President did not hesitate to do what was necessary. He did not provoke a war or create conflict, but he stood up for the rights and interests of our country.)

Castro, meanwhile, said that the administration does not want Filipinos to be afraid of fighting for sovereignty.

Despite this, she said the administration maintains that the South China Sea should be an area of peace, cooperation, and coordination and should not be a source of division or chaos.

“Hindi po ‘yan ang nais ng administrasyon. Hindi po natin gustong maging duwag ang bawat Pilipino para ipaglaban ang karapatan natin, pero hindi po tayo nagsasabi na dapat tayo sumulong sa isang gera,” she said.

(That is not what the administration wants. We do not want Filipinos to be too afraid to stand up for our rights, but neither are we saying that we should rush into war.) –NB, GMA News