incident until June 17 when he eventually made a statement, saying that the incident was just the "maritime incident." Because of this, it generated public controversy and several militant groups including the fishermen's relatives have desired to impeach Duterte for allowing "China to fish in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine Sea." In April 2021, the discussions over the issue on South China Sea dispute were revived. Initially, on his 2016 presidential campaign, Duterte vows to "ride a jetski" and "plant" the Philippine flag at the airport built by China in the Spratlys" but in 2017, Duterte said that he would no longer plant the Philippine flag in the Spratly out of respect for China. In July 2016, after Duterte was elected, an arbitral tribunal ruled in The Hague, Netherlands that China's claim to almost the entire South China Sea, of which the West Philippine Sea is part of, was unfounded. On May 9, 2021, Duterte revealed that he was only joking and called those who believed in it "stupid." This triggered criticism from the fishermen and on Twitter, trending the hashtag #DuterteDuwag (#DuterteCoward). The issue was criticized throughout by retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio. Senator Manny Pacquiao also joined to criticize Duterte personally, stating that the latter must fulfill his promise to "ride a jetski" and flag the country's flag there. Good conduct time allowance controversy In August 2019, the news reports of impending release of former Calauan, Laguna mayor Antonio Sanchez, who was the prime suspect of murders of Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez in 1993 and was convicted in March 1995, was met by outrage across the country. After weeks of controversy, the Duterte administration denied the role in releasing of Sanchez and ordered Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and Bureau of Corrections chief Nicanor Faeldon not to release him. Sanchez remained in prison until his death on March 27, 2021. The GCTA controversy sparked again in September 2020 when Duterte granted an absolute pardon to Joseph Scott Pemberton, which was justified by his spokesman Harry Roque, who was once a legal counsel for the Laude family. Pemberton killed trans woman Jennifer Laude inside the Olongapo motel in October 2014. On December 1, 2015, Pemberton was convicted of murder, sentenced him to 6 to 12 years in jail. The pardon, which was condemned by the Laude family, sparked outrage in the LGBT