" We predict that future administrations will have to cancel the Kaliwa and Chico projects and default on the Chinese loans, which will result in the Philippines being sued by China in arbitration proceedings that have been designed to favor the creditor."

Read the rest of the article from Rappler.

Who owns the Spratlys? Palace invokes pro-PHL arbitral ruling vs. China

Malacañang on Friday for the first time invoked the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration that invalidated China's historic claims over most of the South China Sea including the Philippines exclusive economic zone.

President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman Salvador Panelo made the remark after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that the Spratly Islands or Nansha, as the Chinese call them, were part of Chinese territory.

GMANews Online reports.

FLASHBACK: Obama Administration in 2013 told PHL govt to shut up on China's Bullying Tactics

UPDATE 4/17/19: Del Rosario: US brokered talks to end 2012 Panatag standoff,

 Former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Tuesday said for the first time that the United States played a key role in the events that led to the Philippines losing control of Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal to China in 2012 and reignited the dispute in the South China Sea.

confirming what Ellen reported.

From Ellen Tordesillas: U.S to PH: stop anti-China rhetorics

Many , including high-ranking Philippine officials, like to think that increased presence of American military in the Philippines, which is a subject of talks between the two countries starting today, is a commitment by the Americans to defend the Philippines in case of an armed conflict in the West Philippine Sea, where a number of islands are being claimed wholly or partly by the Philippines, Brunei, China,Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Those who have taken these view will be disappointed because the U.S has taken a neutral position in the conflicting claims in the South China Sea (part of it is referred to as West Philippine Sea) and has always been consistent in urging for a peaceful resolution of the conflicting claims.

The Obama administration has decided to rebalance its military forces from Middle East to Asia, in what is seen by analysts as a move to contain China’s hegemony in the region.

Primarily, the U.S. wants to ensure that the sealanes are open and unhampered for international navigation.

But as former UN Representative Lauro Baja, Jr. observed, the Americans do not want to ‘vulgarize’ this objective.

In increasing its presence in Asia, the United States does not want to play referee to countries fighting over islands, rocks and shoals. “They want a stable region. They don’t want to prejudice their strategic relations with China, which is more important than claims over rocks and shoals,” Baja said.

In preparation for the implementation of their Pivot to Asia policy, senior American officials have been coming here the past months and assessing the situation. One thing that they were concerned about is the tension between the Philippines and China over the disputed islands especially Bajo de Masinloc otherwise known as Scarborough Shoal or Panatag shoal and lately the Ayungin shoal.

The Philippines has filed a suit with the UN Arbitral Court questioning China’s nine dash-line, which encompasses the whole South China Sea including several countries’ territories.

A source said some of the analysts interviewed by American officials said that the “Shame China” strategy of the Department of Foreign Affairs under Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has contributed largely to the deteriorating relations between the Philippines and China.

Del Rosario has, several times accused China of “duplicity and intimidation.” Malacañang spokesperson Edwin Lacierda has also made sure that he is not behind in China-bashing.

In the 2010 and 2011 State-of-the Nation address by President Aquino, he had strong words against China.

In his 2011 SONA, Aquino, declared: “ There was a time when we couldn’t appropriately respond to threats in our own backyard. Now, our message to the world is clear: What is ours is ours; setting foot on Recto Bank is no different from setting foot on Recto Avenue.”

He was referring to the disputed Recto or Reed Bank near Palawan.

In his 2012 SONA, he talked lengthily about the situation in Bajo de Masinloc. He said, “We demonstrated utmost forbearance in dealing with this issue. As a sign of our goodwill, we replaced our navy cutter with a civilian boat as soon as we could. We chose not to respond to their media’s harangues. I do not think it excessive to ask that our rights be respected, just as we respect their rights as a fellow nation in a world we need to share.

“There are those who say that we should let Bajo de Masinloc go; we should avoid the trouble. But if someone entered your yard and told you he owned it, would you agree? Would it be right to give away that which is rightfully ours?”

Aquino can be stubborn. But he listens to America. Last year,a month after he withdrew all the ships from Bajo de Masinloc, he, supported by the majority of the members of his cabinet, decided to send back the ships to the area which was by then already controlled by the Chinese. Upon learning of Malacañang’s decision, the U.S. relayed the advice through defense officials that it would not be wise to send back the ships to Bajo de Masinloc. The ships were not sent back.

Our source said, two weeks before the President’s State of the Nation address, U.S. officials advised the DFA and Malacanang to tone down their anti-China rhetorics to reduce tension in the region. That explains why in last month’s SONA there was no mention, not a word, about conflict with China.

Last Aug. 2, Del Rosario, who never let any media opportunity to censure China pass, told members of the foreign correspondents association in the country, that he was not keen on guesting in their forum on the South China Sea because he was “looking for a modus vivendi with China.”

China should thank Uncle Sam.

China has made so much progress in the last 8 years under Obama seizing areas that dont belong to them, that a Trump defeat in 2020 will be welcome news to the Asian hegemon.

UPDATE: SCMP: Beijing tried to block Philippine military facilities on disputed island ‘over fears US could use them’

FLASHBACK: Duterte Says China's Xi Jinping Won't Allow His Removal From Office

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping had provided him with a personal assurance that Beijing would not allow him to be removed from office.

“The assurances of Xi are very encouraging: we will not allow you to be taken out from your office and we will not allow the Philippines to go to the dogs,” Duterte said in a speech Tuesday.

 From Bloomberg. Kinda like what Russia is doing with Maduro.

FLASHBACK: Is China Helping Duterte Destroy Leila De Lima?

 From the Inquirer:

“You know I was the whipping boy of the NGOs (nongovernment organizations) and the human rights stalwarts. But you know I have a special ano kay ano, she is a government official. One day soon, I’ll have to let her go in public and I will have to destroy her in public,” he said.

When asked whom he was referring to, Duterte said: “That’s the riddle there.”

“Just wait. They might have thought that I never listened to them. So, while all the time they were also listening to what I’ve done. I’ve also been busy with the help of another country listening to them,” he said.

Rodrigo Duterte made his statement on August 12, 2016 during Obama's time, so in hindsight we can eliminate the USA as a suspect in helping Duterte illegally eavesdrop on the opposition.

Malamang China ang guilty party.

Watch the Chilling Video:

MORE: Duterte says 'sympathetic' foreign country spying on his critics

 President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday revived his claim that a foreign country “sympathetic” to him has supplied information on his critics.

Duterte said his critics such as communist leader Jose Maria Sison, the Magdalo group, and those who have been rejecting him since the May 2016 elections “have combined" in supposed destabilization efforts.

“I have the evidence. I have the conversation provided by a foreign country sympathetic to us. We don’t have that sophistication,” he said without naming his source.

CHINA!

PH and U.S. officials join hands during closing of Balikatan

China’s swarming: ‘Cabbage strategy’

A CHINESE general gave a preview way back in 2013 of how their People’s Liberation Army deploys a swarm of vessels around disputed islands in the South China Sea in what he called a “cabbage strategy” to take full control.

We were then surprised that the Chinese swarming of Pagasa island off Palawan was initially dismissed by President Duterte’s spokesman as if it were something as innocent as cruising around the block to look for a parking slot. We dug up old Postscripts on that cabbage strategy.

It was probably by force of habit of defending China that the President’s spokesman minimized the swarming – confirmed by the military and independent observers – by hundreds of militia boats around Pagasa, the main island in the cluster of isles comprising the town of Kalayaan in Palawan.

It was a good thing President Duterte, in a departure from his known pro-China bias – stepped in and warned Beijing to lay off Pagasa where there is a thriving Filipino community and a functioning municipal government.

Federico Pascual writes. Maybe too little, too late?