FRANCISCO S. TATAD
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has certainly earned for himself some brownie points for telling China to “temper” its warnings to Philippine aircraft and vessels passing through the South China Sea, saying it cannot create islands where none exist and claim ownership of the sea around them and the airspace above. It was DU30’s first pointed statement on China, ever since he set aside a July 12, 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague which upholds the Philippines’ sovereign rights over contested areas in the Spratlys.