Alternative PHP tags and strict_types=1

mmm I guess this is the correct behaviour, <% tags ar now not parsed at all
and behave as plain text. If you run

http://3v4l.org/uDDW3

foo
<?php declare(strict_types=1);

it will fail too

Hi!

In php7@20150501, I've noticed that this code http://3v4l.org/hPFIg
produces the expected output [1]:

<% echo 'top'; %>
<?php // COMMENTED OUT -- declare(strict_types=1);

But this code http://3v4l.org/RriFV unexpectedly produces the
strict-must-be-first instruction error:

<% echo 'top'; %>
<?php declare(strict_types=1);

Am I missing something? I expected that removing the ASP tags
https://wiki.php.net/rfc/remove_alternative_php_tags from the language
would remove them and their contents from tallying as instructions.

Thanks,
bishop

[1]: The expected output is "<% echo 'top'; %>", not "top".