Malacañang on Tuesday disputed the Inquirer report that the Philippines had been left behind by its rivals in the development of territorial claims in the hotly contested South China Sea. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque disagreed with the report published on Tuesday, which was about the development of islands, reefs or atolls in the Spratly archipelago disputed by the Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan. The Philippine government deferred development of the country’s claims in the Spratlys in 2014 to give way to arbitration in a case it had brought to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague challenging China’s claim to almost all of the South China Sea, including waters within Philippine territory.

Aurelio, J. M., Salaverria, L. B., Nonato, V. F., & Nawal, A. (2018, May 9). Roque: We’re not behind our rivals in reef dev’t. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A6.