Isinusulong ni Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez na mabigyan ng dagdag na ₱10-million na pondo ang Office of the Solicitor General.
Ito ay para makabuo ng isang team na tanging gagawin ay aralin ang susunod na magiging hakbang ng Pilipinas sa isyu ng West Philippine Sea.
“I would like to put in ₱10-more-million for that task force so they will just have to study and advise the president on what to do with this. Not the United Nations, we are going to lose there. But we go back to where we have won. For provisional remedies and also for our damages,” sabi ni Rodriguez.
Naniniwala ang mambabatas na tagilid ang bansa kung iaakyat ang usapin sa United Nations General Assembly dahil sa maraming client states ang China.
Kaya mas maigi aniya na bumalik ang Pilipinas sa Permanent Court of Arbitration kung saan nauna na tayong nanalo kontra China.
“Ang I’d like to post my view that we cannot win in the United Nations General Assembly. Because China has so many client states. So therefore, the best remedy and I’d like to get the study and the opinion of the Office of the Solicitor General, the best way is to go back to the Arbitral Tribunal, where we have won on July 12, 2016, and that is for a new petition for ancillary relief, provisional remedies, and damages,” dagdag ni Rodriguez.
Bukas naman si Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra sa suhestyon ng kongresista.
Katunayan, mayroon na aniya siyang binuong grupo para aralin kung ano pa ang maaaring legal option ng bansa tungkol sa issue.
“Two weeks ago I constituted already a special team of high caliber solicitors who have extensive training in international law, international public law, and also in arbitration to study the legal options that the Philippine government may take in connection with the victory that we had secured in 2016 from the permanent court of arbitration against our big neighbor… and definitely we will also consult Congress in connection with any future action that we may take, because this involves also our foreign relations,” tugon ni Guevarra. | ulat ni Kathleen Jean Forbes
