MikeLigalig.com

The presence of Trillanes, leader of the Magdalo group behind the 2003 Oakwood mutiny,  in Cabinet meetings on China since May has raised not a few eyebrows, including that  of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s.

In a phone interview, Trillanes said, “If Secretary Del Rosario was only close to being effective as a foreign secretary, then there wouldn’t be any need for a back channel in the first place.”

Trillanes has made no secret about his opinion that Del Rosario is unfit to represent the Philippines on the negotiating table with China because of his allegedly rabid opposition to any peaceful settlement with Beijing and his purported desire to bring the United States into the confrontation.

The senator said this was shown by a series of actions Del Rosario had allegedly made that appeared to intensify, rather than ease, the conflict between the two countries.

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“[The] fear that China will build an outpost there in Scarborough was never true all along. It’s better that we just course this through peaceful means,” the former Navy lieutenant said in the radio interview.

Responding to Trillanes’ statement, Del Rosario said:

“Many of us know for a fact that the good senator is staying very close to the West Philippine Sea issue. He fully knows what is factual and what can be established as a matter of record. The factual record would reflect otherwise.  The DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) has remained faithful to the President’s mandate to defend what is ours and  to pursue a peaceful resolution on the West Philippine Sea issue, in accordance with the international law.”

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The foreign secretary also rejected insinuations that he was against any peaceful settlement with China because he was protecting the interest of his former boss, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. chairman Manny V. Pangilinan.

Pangilinan controls Forum Energy, the consortium which owns the exploratory rights to  the Recto Bank off Palawan touted to be the country’s largest gas find and part of the territory being claimed by China.

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Trillanes said Del Rosario failed miserably in his attempt to convince US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in May to intervene when Washington announced it would stay neutral in the conflict.

The senator blamed Del Rosario for his failure to get a joint statement from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to address the West Philippine Sea conflict due to his insistence in using Scarborough Shoal which Cambodia, a Chinese ally, naturally opposed.

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what?  the 2003 oakwood mutiny leader, the very same one who showed cruelty with his shouts on the senate floor to the late gen. angelo reyes, is accusing a respectable and revered senior of being a war freak?  someone without diplomatic experience is implying that he can do the job better?

someone's interested in secretary del rosario's position by 2013.  china is laughing all the way to the spratlys and scarborough shoal. 

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