Facebook page Superficial Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines (SGRP) scored President Rodrigo Duterte for saying that he would sell Philippine territory to China once “the spectacle of a war is gone.”
The page, which was created to spoof the Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines, said that there is no provision in the Philippine Constitution that allows presidents to sell the country’s territory to any foreign nation.
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“#SabiNgGobyerno: “And maybe when we get rich, very rich I can sell the land to you (China) inyo na, when the spectacle of a war is gone” – President Rodrigo Roa Duterte,” SGRP said in a Facebook post.
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“On another note, our search through the PH Constitution for the right of the President to sell Philippine territory to foreign nations, especially hostile ones, turned up zero results,” the page added.
Duterte made the remarks on April 10 at the Davao International Airport before leaving for the Middle East.
Commenters seemed to be in agreement with the page’s opinion about President Duterte’s remarks.
One said it is ironic why Duterte would consider selling Philippine land once it’s rich when he seems to be giving them away now when we’re poor.
Another said that China won’t buy land that they already considered as theirs.
A netizen also said that Duterte might be using a “2016 Consitution,” totally non-existent, by the way, while referring to the President’s earlier admission of a Fentanyl use. We’re still following the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
Someone asked if Duterte actually said the remarks and another commenter responded with Duterte’s exact quote, adding that presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella clarified it as Duterte’s way of saying that it was the President’s way of keeping friendly relations with China.
A Manila Bulletin article reported that Abella said: “Basically, he was underlining that. If you notice the context, it says when there is no more trouble, when we’re rich enough, in the sense that’s really, I think in the far future, that would be the end result of our friendship and negotiations with China.”
One commenter said that he is growing curious over what kind of constitution Duterte and his avid supporter, MTRCB board member Mocha Uson, are referring to. Uson was earlier slammed for mistakenly saying that there is an Article 263 in the Philippine Constitution.
Another brought up the fact that the President’s remarks is worse than his supporters’ accusations leveled at former President Benigno Aquino III and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV about them selling the West Philippine Sea to China.
Sources: ( news.abs-cbn.com , news.mb.com.ph )
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