MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Thursday said the Philippines would “lose” in [the] United Nations (UN) should the country raise its arbitral victory before the international organization.

“We will lose in UN which is dominated by countries grateful to China for its indisputable generosity in development aid,” Locsin said over Twitter.

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The foreign affairs chief was reacting to Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo’s statement that raising the Philippines’ arbitral ruling victory against Beijing’s sweeping claim over the South China Sea before the UN General Assembly would be a “futile exercise.”

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The Philippines is set to address the world body on September 28 where Locsin will represent President Rodrigo Duterte.

“We’ve always lost Non-Aligned Movement votes to include our Arbitral Award. My many good friends in UN vote against us. We’ve nothing to comparable to offer,” Locsin went on.

We will lose in UN which is dominated by countries grateful to China for its indisputable generosity in development aid. We've always lost Non-Aligned Movement votes to include our Arbitral Award. My many good friends in UN vote against us. We've nothing to comparable to offer. https://t.co/LzGa9vB3gm — Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) September 19, 2019

But in a separate tweet, the country’s top diplomat maintained that “[w]e can never ever give up the Arbitral Award.”

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“Sal, we gotta be realistic. We can never ever give up the Arbitral Award. Our people will kill us in our beds and rape our sons if we do it,” Locsin said.

“But we will never ever get UN to vote for Arbitral Award. So let’s leave it as is; move on to mutual beneficial cooperation. Such is life,” he added.

Sal, we gotta be realistic. We can never ever give up the Arbitral Award. Our people will kill us in our beds and rape our sons if we do it. But we will never ever get UN to vote for Arbitral Award. So let's leave it as is; move on to mutual beneficial cooperation. Such is life. https://t.co/LzGa9vB3gm — Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) September 19, 2019

In July 2016, the Philippines sealed a historic win against China before the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, which invalidated Beijing’s nine-dash line that covers almost the entire South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea. /muf

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