"We maintain good relations with China. Let us create an environment where we sit down and talk directly. That is the time we would say we proceed from here."
This was the statement of Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte concerning to the impending Sino-Philippine formal talks on the South China Sea dispute during the press conference in Davao City held last Sunday.
Duterte added that if Beijing refuses to talk with the Philippines, he can't do anything about it anymore; however, going to war with China is the "most stupid thing to do" given the fact that Beijing is one of the most powerful countries in the world.
"We do not fight China directly. When we talk of China, its huge naval fleet, its huge air force with its nuclear warheads aimed at us, how do we respond? We cannot start a war we know we will certainly lose. So we will do it through legal and diplomatic means," Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio in an interview at a law university in Cebu City last Friday.
Carpio said that even though the Philippines search for a formal talk with Beijing on the South China Sea dispute, it will not bow on the demands of China especially if they are contrary to the Philippine constitution and the international arbitral court decision.
"We will stick to the ruling of the tribunal and the Constitution. That means, we will not give up the benefit of the ruling. We will follow the Constitution. For me, that's good enough," he said.
Though Manila asserts on conducting talks with China based on the arbitral court ruling, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that Beijing will not accept future proposals by any nation based on the tribunal ruling.
Carpio called international community to support and press China to honor the ruling.
He added that the current tribunal ruling favoring Philippines is an opportunity to unite the Filipinos.
But despite the rejection of the China on the court's ruling, the world continues to support the Philippines' position on the South China Sea row.
Carpio emphasized that the ruling was not "useless" and that the Philippines will continue to fight on its sovereign rights on the disputed sea.
"We can't give up our sovereign rights and jurisdiction. We've won the battle already. For us to walk away from that and say we don't need that, what would the next generation of Filipinos will say?" he said.
