PHL gov’t open to China’s suggested joint activities with ASEAN in disputed sea
MALACAÑANG on Monday said it is open to the suggestion of the People’s Republic of China to conduct joint military exercises and energy exploration with member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
China, however, also insisted that non-ASEAN countries, especially the United States, should be excluded from the joint activities.
Sought for comment during a press briefing on Monday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. said: “We understand the invitation of China [that] it wants a closer cooperation among its neighbors, and the US is not its neighbor and therefore we understand that.”
He added: “We have also said we are amenable to a joint exploration in the disputed areas, and we are pushing for 60%-40% sharing — 60% accruing to Filipinos, of course.” — Arjay L. Balinbin
Roque joins Davao’s HNP regional party
PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESPERSON Harry L. Roque, Jr. on Monday took his oath as a member of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), a regional political party led by Davao City Mayor Sara Carpio-Duterte, a daughter of the President.
“Well, I took the oath kanina. Well, I am the Presidential spokesperson, and the President has said Hugpong is his party. So, it‘s only right that I join his party,” Mr. Roque said in a press briefing in Malita, Davao Occidental on Monday, Aug. 6.
He added, “This is without prejudice to alliances that Hugpong may enter into, including with PDP-Laban. So, that’s not really an impossibility because right now the registration of Hugpong is as a regional party. But, of course, as Presidential spokesperson, I need to join the party of the President as well. He is also the chairman of PDP, so I should also be there but first and foremost when I asked him he said Hugpong has always been his party.”
Mr. Roque was mum on whether he has plans of running for Senate next year.
However, Davao Occidental Rep. Lorna P. Bautista-Bandigan, who joined him during the press briefing, addressed him as her district’s “senator.”
“Thank you, Senator Harry Roque, siya ang senador namin dito sa (He is our senator here in) Davao Occidental,” Ms. Bandigan said. — Arjay L. Balinbin
