Locsin to Roque: Lay off foreign affairs

MANILA, Philippines — While he may speak for the President on various issues, Harry Roque should “lay off foreign affairs” in which he has no competence, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said yesterday in reaction to the presidential spokesman’s tepid response to China’s authorizing its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels.

Roque earlier said Malacañang does not believe that China’s new Coast Guard law has dashed hopes for a binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.

The Palace official said the Philippines can take China anew to the international tribunal to question the controversial law, being a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

“I am not listening to Harry Roque. Love the guy but he’s not competent in this field. We do not go back to The Hague. We might lose what we won. Harry, lay off,” Locsin told Roque on Twitter on Monday, referring to the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration invalidating China’s nine-dash line in the South China Sea. “Harry, just lay off foreign affairs,” Locsin said in another tweet.

At a briefing at Malacañang, Roque stressed that President Duterte is the chief architect of the country’s foreign policy, whether Locsin likes it or not.

“I love him back even more so. Tisoy kasi ‘no… But anyway, the President is the chief architect of foreign policy, pero hindi po tayo nanghihimasok (but we’re not meddling),” he said.

“It is clear from our answer yesterday na we said theoretically the only way or the only forum is the Tribunal for the Law of the Sea but the decision whether or not to go there lies with the Department of Foreign Affairs, our Department of Foreign Affairs as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the other countries. I think I was very clear that I was not intruding,” he said.

“(With due respect), as chief architect of foreign policy… It’s very hard to be silent on these matters. But of course, we always defer to the line agency as far as actual policies to be implemented are concerned,” Roque added.

Last week, former Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio said that Beijing’s rival claimants in the South China Sea could ask a UN tribunal to nullify the law, which allows China’s coast guard to shoot foreign vessels that violate Chinese sovereignty.

Asked for comment the other day, Roque said that a legal challenge may be filed before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, a judicial body established under the UNCLOS.