FOR once, it looked like President Rodrigo Duterte finally found his voice regarding the West Philippine Sea. When he spoke before the entire United Nations General Assembly, he clearly laid our claim to the important victory that the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague has handed to us. Finally, at least it seemed, he declared that the arbitral ruling was nonnegotiable. This was a significant reversal; in fact, a great one, when taken in the context of his earlier pronouncements, echoed by his social media enablers, that the ruling was a useless piece of paper.
“The award is now part of international law beyond compromise and beyond the reach of passing governments to dilute, diminish or abandon,” he said. “We firmly reject attempts to undermine it,” he added.
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