MANILA, Philippines — If President Rodrigo Duterte backed out from his own debate challenge to avoid his statements from being misconstrued as official foreign policy, then he must also retract all his damaging remarks about the West Philippine Sea, former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said in a statement issued on Tuesday, May 11.
“Now that the President acknowledges that what he says could bind the government, under the present or future administrations, then he must now retract the following statements that he publicly made recently,” Carpio said.
He specified these three statements:
* That China is “in possession” of the West Philippine Sea
* That Chinese f…
Keep on reading: Retract remarks on WPS if you don’t want them mistaken for policy, Carpio tells Duterte