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| President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. TOTO LOZANO / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO |
President Rodrigo Duterte should depend on the Filipino people, not on China, for his survival in office, several senators said on Thursday.
The senators, belonging to both the majority and the minority blocs, reacted with disapproval after the President said on Tuesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping had given him his 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,’” the President said in a speech aboard a Philippine Navy vessel.
He made the remarks in justifying his decision to set aside a July 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague invalidating China’s claim to nearly all of the South China Sea in a case brought by the Aquino administration.
Inquirer
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