President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday he was not aware of the incident in which the Chinese navy harassed Filipino troops who were on a mission to bring supplies to the Filipino soldiers guarding a rusting ship at the Ayungin Shoal on May 11.
He also doubted whether the Philippine military would follow orders to go on a “suicide” mission to fend off Chinese forces occupying Philippine territory in the West Philippine Sea.
“It’s easy to say that. When I say military, police, ‘Go there and commit suicide,’ Do you think they will follow me?” Duterte said.
He was answering reporters’ questions at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport upon his arrival from an official visit to South Korea.
“If I were the military, I were the general, and you order[ed] me to go there, ‘Commit suicide, go with your soldiers.’ I will say, ‘Fuck you. Why do I have to do that?’” Duterte said.
His remarks were prompted by a question on diplomatic action taken by the Philippines against China on China’s actions in the West Philippine Sea.
Duterte said any military action against China would be a “suicide” mission, given the latter’s military might.
Despite an earlier statement by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano that he had already briefed the President as regards the Ayungin incident, Duterte said he knew nothing about it.
“We had a meeting. The President had strong instructions,” Cayetano told lawmakers during a congressional hearing last week.
“I don’t know about that incident,” Duterte said upon his arrival from South Korea.
“What kind of harassment in the first place? Before I commit myself to answer the question, what kind of harassment was this?” he said.
The President said this was the first time he heard about the incident.
“It would be dangerous for me to answer questions without really having the slightest idea of what it is all about,” he said.
The BRP Sierra Madre was deliberately running aground on the Ayungin Shoal to mark the Philippines’ claim to the reef in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea.
A small contingent of Philippine soldiers is stationed aboard.
Just to the west of Ayungin Shoal is Mischief Reef, one of seven coral formations in the Spratlys that China has turned into islands and where it now has military installations.