OPPOSITION Senator Francis Pangilinan wants to know if Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque is “getting his salary from China,” recalling that the Palace official is “frequently taking the side of China” in the raging debate over conflicting claims and reported Chinese intrusions well within the West Philippine Sea territory.
Pangilinan raised the issue on Wednesday after noting Roque’s recently reported comments, citing for instance, the Palace official’s claim that the area involved—Julian Felipe Reef—was not part of the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Pangilinan rejected the Palace official’s alibi that only administration critics were blowing up the Julian Felipe Reef occupation into a big issue, noting the reported massing of over 200 ships from China in the area.
While Duterte critics may have seized on the President’s silence on the matter when the maritime militia boats were reported by the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea, it is not “just the critics” who took issue with the matter.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. fired off a series of diplomatic protests against Beijing and vowed to file one note verbale for each day the Chinese boats remain in the area.
And, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana pointedly told China to pull out all its vessels, rebuking the Chinese embassy for saying those were fishing boars seeking shelter from bad weather. “I am no fool,” the defense chief said.
Pangilinan suggested that somebody should remind Roque he is drawing salary “paid for by Filipino taxpayers, and not China.”
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