Duterte reiterates arbitral ruling is meaningless; Enrile says it is not

President Duterte reiterated his stand that the 2016 The Hague ruling invalidating China's claim in the West Philippine Sea will just be rejected by China, calling it “meaningless” this time around.

- ARGYLL CYRUS B. GEDUCOS and ROY C. MABASA

Duterte made the statement as he dedicated his public address this week to talk about the West Philippine Sea issue with former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile as special guest.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Tuesday supported President Duterte’s stance that the 2016 Arbitral Award that invalidated China’s excessive claims in the West Philippine Sea is “meaningless for now” if the purpose is to retake the Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal.

But Enrile believes otherwise although he hasten to say that any resolution coming from the United Nations will not have much effect since the body does not have police powers.

“Sa aking paningin, hindi naman nasasayang yung decision ng arbitration diyan sa bagay na yan sapagka't nandiyan na yun, eh. Sa palagay ko nakarehistro ang decision sa record ng UN (I think the arbitration decision on the issue will not go to waste because it's already there. This decision is already in the UN's records),” Enrile said.

“Kahit may resolution ng UN 'yan, 'di mapapatupad ng UN yung resolution nila. Wala silang police force eh. Wala namang world government na kagaya ng estruktura sa ating bansa (Even if the UN has a resolution, they won't be able to enforce it because they don't have police force. There is no world government that has a country's structure),” he added.