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Pia Lee-Brago - The Philippine Star
June 1, 2026 | 12:00am
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. delivers a speech at the 23rd Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore yesterday.
AFP
MANILA, Philippines — For China, negotiations are “not a path to conflict resolution,” but a means of gaining advantage, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said yesterday, underscoring that the Philippines will not be deceived by such talks.
Addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, Teodoro blamed China for the need to have a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea and stalling the COC for Beijing to bargain for a status quo.
“Why is there a need for a Code of Conduct when we have peremptory norms such as UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), such as the UN Charter – and the Code of Conduct is a collective code by a group of nations on the one side and with a single actor on the other. So perhaps the problem does not lie within ASEAN. The problem lies with the counterparty to the Code of Conduct,” Teodoro said, naming the counterparty as China.
He stressed that the Philippines would not sacrifice territorial integrity and sovereignty because the Philippine Constitution does not allow it.
“And to do so would be to subvert the popular, democratic and free mandate that the people gave our political leaders, unlike some autocratic systems where the mandate comes from above, dictated down. In our country’s mandates, we have to defend mandates to our populations,” Teodoro said.
“For the PRC (People’s Republic of China), therefore, in the Philippine experience, negotiations are therefore not a path to conflict resolution, but a means of gaining advantage and we must, we will not be deceived,” he emphasized.
The Philippines, Teodoro said, has consistently adhered to UNCLOS and its dispute settlement mechanisms, noting that any diminution of UNCLOS cannot be accepted under the Philippine Constitution, the basis of Philippine territory and maritime rights.
He said that China’s refusal to participate and the denial of the arbitral tribunal’s jurisdiction and validity of its award is contrary to international law.
“Instead of honoring their obligations under UNCLOS, the PRC exhorts the Philippines to return to the path of negotiations,” Teodoro said.
