A maritime law expert is urging President Duterte not to make next week’s visit to the Philippine Rise a “sideshow with colorful but empty utterances of protecting sovereignty and sovereign rights.” Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines’ Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, also said the President should extend his trip by proceeding to the West Philippine Sea (WPS) to show his “grit.” “He should show some grit and at least try to show that he is not leading the country into vassalage under China, in the same way that the military, through the current Balikatan Exercises, is thumbing its nose at China’s creeping assertions by conducting amphibious landing exercises,” Batongbacal said.

Aurelio, J. M. (2018, May 12). From PH rise, Duterte urged to proceed to Panatag, WPS. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A11.