Duterte: I always tell China Benham is ours

President Duterte on Wednesday said he had told China that the Philippines would not give up Pag-asa Island in the South China Sea and Benham Rise in the Pacific.

But the President said it was not the “proper time” to give emphasis to the territorial disputes in the Spratlys as this could lead to open warfare that the Philippines “cannot sustain.”

“We just somehow ride it off. But there are things that I have to say. I even told China what’s ours there… We have been there since 1974,” Mr. Duterte said in a speech in Hagonoy, Davao del Sur.

“Our Pag-asa Island, I cannot give it up. Benham Rise, when they go there, I always tell them, ‘That is ours,’” he said.

Since coming to office last year, Mr. Duterte has tried to steer the Philippines closer to China and away from its traditional ally, the United States.

Mr. Duterte noted that the United States was “not able to do anything” about the territorial encroachments of China in the South China Sea.

“It’s not the proper time to be—to go to war because it’s already been claimed. We can no longer do anything. If even America wasn’t able to do anything, do you think we could have done something?” the President said.

On the other hand, Mr. Duterte said he had ordered the military to “occupy the islands” claimed by the Philippines in the South China Sea.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Monday said government experts were checking pictures of supposedly new military facilities built by China on islands in the South China Sea.

Lorenzana said if the pictures provided by the American think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) were proven to be accurate, then the Philippines would file a diplomatic protest against China.

“We’re still studying if there are additional structures because the pictures I saw that were shown by CSIS, there seems to be no changes,” Lorenzana said.

“But the experts are looking at it now to see if there were additional structures,” he said.

The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, which is part of CSIS, last week said new satellite photos showed that the Chinese had built missile shelters and radar and communication sites on Fiery Cross, Mischief and Subi Reefs.

“We are not really experts so they’re checking if these are new,” Lorenzana said.

Meanwhile, Lorenzana said the Philippines had yet to begin construction of new structures on Pag-asa Island, the biggest island controlled by the Philippines in the Spratlys.

“Not yet. The procurement process is too slow,” the defense chief said.

Lorenzana earlier said planned construction activities might take longer than expected as the government had to rebid portions of the construction project.