With two highly anticipated events set to take place, this week will be very historic, a MalacaƱang official said yesterday.
An international court in The Hague, Netherlands is scheduled to release its ruling on the South China Sea issue or West Philippine Sea and President Duterte expected to sign an executive order on Freedom of Information.
ā(This) week will be a very, very historic week for everybody,ā Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar said, noting that the United Nations Arbitration Court decision on the Philippinesā case against China over the WPS will be released tomorrow afternoon.
Duterte had earlier said he is willing to talk to China if the tribunal would issue a ruling in favor of the Philippines.
āOn the West Philippine Sea, we remain optimistic that the judgment will be in our favor,ā he said in one of his speech. āBut if itās not,ā Duterte said, āthen we will accept it as part of a country who honors international commitments that is by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.ā
Andanar, when asked in an interview yesterday over State-run Radyo ng Bayan if the Philippines is willing to conduct joint exploration in the WPS, replied: āLet us wait for the decision and the Solicitor General will study this, then thatās the time we shall explore our next move.ā
Pressed further on what are the governmentās expectation on the UN ruling, Andanar said: āWe approach this legally, iyon po āyung track natin.ā
āLahat ng argumento ng gobyerno ay nandun na sa The Hague. Now they will decide on July 12. Lalabas po ito ng alas singko ng hapon. Letās just wait kung ano ang magiging decision,ā he added.
Andanar said Duterteās FoI EO is also expected this week. āThere are also other announcements that we can look forward to like the Presidentās signing of the EO on Freedom of Information and other announcements from various departments in the Executive branch,ā he said.
The President will sign the EO on FoI in keeping with his campaign promise to give greater public access to government documents in the interest of transparency and accountability.
He said if Congress was opposed to the measure, he would implement the FoI āprogressivelyā in the Executive branch and that the media and the rest of the public are welcome āto dig deep into the papers.ā (Elena L. Aben)