Protesters demand China leave South China Sea territories

Dozens of protesters held a rally outside the Chinese Consulate in Manila on Friday, demanding China to get out of territories in the South China Sea claimed by the Philippines.

A protester wearing a mask bearing a face of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte pretended to sleep under a mosquito net to symbolize his inaction on the disputed South China Sea issues.

The escalating feud between Manila and Beijing started after more than 200 Chinese vessels suspected by Philippine authorities to be operated by militias were spotted in early March at Whitsun Reef.

Philippine's defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana and foreign sSecretary Teodoro Locsin demanded the vessels leave, then the government deployed navy and coast guard vessels to the area.

China said it owns the reef and the Chinese vessels were sheltering from rough seas.

Many of the Chinese vessels have left Whitsun, about 175 nautical miles (325 kilometers) west of the Philippine province of Palawan, but several have remained moored in the area, part of a shallow atoll partly occupied by China and Vietnam.

The Philippine government says the reef is within an internationally recognized offshore zone where Manila has exclusive rights to exploit fisheries, oil, gas and other resources.

While being careful with his pronouncements on China, Duterte blasted two respected former Philippine officials who have criticized his handling of the country's territorial conflicts with Beijing.

He used expletives and called former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio "idiotic."

Del Rosario and Carpio were among the Philippine officials who brought the country's conflict with China to international arbitration in 2013.

The arbitration tribunal ruled largely in favor of the Philippines based on the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and invalidated China's claims to virtually the entire South China Sea on historical grounds.

China refused to participate in the arbitration, ignored the 2016 ruling and continues to defy it.