Lacson praises Defense chief, floats idea of ‘President Gilbert Teodoro’

‘BASIC DECENCY,’ PLEASE Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. points to the handwritten note suddenly handed to him as he was talking at a security forum in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday. The note reiterated Beijing’s rejection of the 2016 arbitral ruling on the West Philippine Sea issue. —DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENSE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines —Senator Panfilo Lacson on Sunday floated the idea of a “President Gilbert Teodoro” as he commended the Defense secretary for denouncing China’s latest assertion over the West Philippine Sea during an international forum.

Lacson noted the praise Teodoro received from South Koreans, saying the secretary showed what a brilliant mind can bring to the world stage in defending the country’s sovereignty.

“Imagine a ‘President Gilbert Teodoro’ alongside global leaders: the world would inevitably ask why a nation led by such a brilliant mind remains poor and undeveloped,” Lacson wrote in a post on X. 

This came after a man handed Teodoro a piece of paper during the question-and-answer portion of the recent Seoul Defense Dialogue, an annual multilateral security forum. The note reiterated China’s rejection of the landmark 2016 arbitral ruling.

Teodoro criticized the assertion, saying China only refused to recognize the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) after it lost the arbitration.

“It not only disrespects, shows, if this is a China position said to me, it not only disrespects international law, throwing Unclos to the floor and trampling upon it, but it also disrespects the basic decency that should be accorded to our most gracious hosts, the Republic of Korea and the rest of the audience here,” Teodoro emphasized. 

The secretary also described the situation as “actual coercion, bullying, and aggression” noting that he will keep the paper “as a memento of how desperate China is and how ineffective its position is in the face of a free audience.” /dl

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