Marcoleta says remarks to ‘give up’ KIG made in jest

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Rodante Marcoleta on Tuesday said his statement about giving up the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) from Philippine territory was made in jest, calling it “highly hypothetical.”

During a recent hearing of the Commission on Appointments Committee on National Defense, Marcoleta suggested giving up the KIG to more easily control the West Philippine Sea.

“I was joking. It was a hypothetical statement when I said, ‘Well, you want to give up the KIG so you can encircle it.’ That was highly hypothetical. It was not even a suggestion,” Marcoleta said in Filipino during the Senate Committee hearing on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification, and Reconciliation on Tuesday.

READ: Palace on Kalayaan islands: No part of PH will be given to foreign power

He previously drew criticism from Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela, former Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, and University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea director Jay Batongbacal after he said the KIG should be given up because it was not part of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

Marcoleta has repeatedly denied making the suggestion, saying that he was “only trying to emphasize…  the difficulty of plotting the West Philippine Sea because of several obstacles.”

He also said that those allegedly misquoting him, including the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority and those who criticized his earlier statements, are “trying to paint [him] as the villain and they as the national hero of the Philippines.”

Marcoleta previously challenged Carpio, Tarriela, and Batongbacal to a debate on the West Philippine Sea in a series of public declarations.

READ: PCG’s Tarriela to Marcoleta: WPS claim not up for debate

The senator also accused Carpio of treason after he had supposedly given up around 240,000 nautical miles of the Philippines’ territorial sea, while Tarriela accused Marcoleta of treason for “defending China.”

The Malacañang also shut down Marcoleta’s initial statement of giving up the KIG, saying it had no plans of surrendering any part of the country’s territory or interests in the West Philippine Sea. /mcm