AKBAYAN SENATOR RISA HONTIVEROS ON PRESIDENT DUTERTE'S PLAN TO INVOKE HAGUE RULING IN CHINA VISIT

This is something that President Rodrigo Duterte should have been doing consistently from the beginning. Nevertheless, I welcome Malacañang's statement that the President will finally invoke The Hague ruling during his visit to China this month. Sa wakas!

I can only hope that President Duterte is not doing this merely to shore up support within the military, but because it is his duty as President to defend our country's territorial integrity.

President Duterte's lack of political courage in the past to assert our historic victory at The Hague has cost us very dearly. The actions of Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea have led to the continuous harassment of our fisherfolk, the plunder and destruction of our natural resources, and, let us not forget, the Recto Bank hit-and-run incident which almost cost the lives of 22 of our fishermen.

The President's statement confirms that his foreign policy in dealing with China has not been previously guided by the Hague Ruling. In his coming visit to China I call on the President to make the Hague ruling a central component of his administration's foreign policy moving forward.