Even so, political observers were quick to point out that this was most likely a retaliation on Morales by China. Was it intended to silence the Philippines whose government has already been eerily quiet about China’s shenanigans? When President Rodrigo Duterte was campaigning for the presidency, he vowed to jet-ski to Scarborough Shoal and plant the Philippine flag in the South China Sea. Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio urged Filipino communicators to launch a South China Sea Truth Movement to help correct China’s “fake historical claim” that they own almost the entire South China Sea because the Duterte administration is not keen on doing so. According to Poling, “the South China Sea’s fisheries and marine environment are under dire threat.

Source: Philippine Star June 15, 2019 04:25 UTC