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EJ Macababbad - The Philippine Star
June 26, 2025 | 12:00am
In her first public remarks regarding the contested waters, Duterte told attendees of the “Free Duterte Now” rally in Melbourne on Sunday that the Philippines should “stay in the middle” in the power struggle between China and the United States, which backs Manila’s maritime claims.
STAR / File
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte’s criticisms of the administration’s policy in the West Philippine Sea constituted a betrayal of public trust, ML Party-list representative-elect Leila de Lima said.
In her first public remarks regarding the contested waters, Duterte told attendees of the “Free Duterte Now” rally in Melbourne on Sunday that the Philippines should “stay in the middle” in the power struggle between China and the United States, which backs Manila’s maritime claims.
The Vice President questioned why the Marcos administration greenlit Washington’s deployment of the Typhon missile system in the Philippines, which has antagonized Beijing.
Such comments, according to De Lima, made her a “traitor” just like her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who sidelined traditional allies during his term to placate China.
“You’re not supposed to be airing opinions or blurting out statements that would undermine the Philippines’ core interests in the West Philippine Sea, and that’s what she’s been doing,” the representative-elect said on Tuesday.
De Lima made these remarks as she headlined the inaugural memorial lecture dedicated to the late president Benigno Aquino III, who took up the arbitration case against China in 2012 for violating the Philippines’ maritime rights.
The lecture, held at the Ateneo de Manila University in time for Aquino’s fourth death anniversary, centered on his decision to confront China, akin to the biblical story of David and Goliath.
“The President believed and constantly reminded us that might does not make right,” De Lima said of her former principal, adding, “For him, it was right that makes might.”
Aquino, who died of renal failure secondary to diabetes at the age of 61, exuded confidence that the country would succeed before the Permanent Court of Arbitration despite internal debates over the legal strategy to pursue the case.
