Members of the opposition slammed yesterday President Duterte’s call to revive the death penalty and his statement that he was “inutile” and “cannot do anything” in the face of China’s aggression in the South China Sea, parts of which the Philippines also claims. Duterte made the statements during his 5th State of the Nation Address (SONA) yesterday. Former solicitor general Florin Hilbay, in a post on Twitter, reminded Duterte about the Philippines’ historic victory against China before the United Nations-backed arbitral tribunal at The Hague in July 2016, which invalidated Beijing’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea.

Flores, H., Romero, P., Porcalla, D., Punay, E., & Simeon, L. M. (2020, July 28). Opposition slams stand on SCS, death penalty. The Philippine Star, p. 5.