MALACAÑANG on Monday called for the filing of cases against former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario for allegedly ceding the Scarborough Shoal to China.
In an online press briefing, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said, “Mr. Del Rosario, if you want to talk about who that real traitor is, that is you. You were the one who gave the territory to China,” Roque said.
“I enjoin lawyers and other groups to study the legal liability of Albert del Rosario in ceding Scarborough Shoal to China,” he added.
BusinessMirror tried to get the reaction of Del Rosario’s camp on the matter but it has yet to issue any reply as of press time.
Roque issued the statement when asked for a reaction on Del Rosario’s claim that President Duterte “betrayed the Constitution” for setting aside the 2016 arbitral ruling in the Hague.
The ruling rejected China’s “historic” claims and nine-dash-line borders on most of the waters of the South China Sea.
Incident reporting
In an earlier public address, Duterte had described the 2016 arbitral ruling as a mere scrap of paper which could be thrown in a trash bin.
But even with such pronouncement by the President, Roque said the current administration has not lost any territory to China.
He also disputed the reports of some fishermen, who said are unable to fish in parts of the WSP, particularly in the Scarborough shoal, since they are being repelled by Chinese vessels.
However, he said that if there are indeed such incidents, the affected fishermen should report these to the government .
“The order of our President remains, that the Coast Guard will continue to sail in the seas and protect our fishermen and repel foreigners from our Exclusive Economic Zone,” Roque said.