Despite his previous statements that he would set aside, for now, the United Nations-backed arbitral ruling against China, President Rodrigo Duterte has now “effectively” invoked the ruling after he told Beijing to lay off Pag-asa Island, Malacañang said on Monday. In a speech in Palawan on April 3, Duterte told China not to “touch” Pag-asa Island following the surge of vessels from a Chinese fishing fleet believed to be maritime militia.
