Daily Tribune
Caught in the act A snapshot captures the high-stakes game as China Coast Guard personnel onboard a rigid-hulled inflatable boat (right) trails a Philippine fishing boat during a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources mission to bring supplies to fishermen near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed West Philippine Sea.
PCG/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
National Security Adviser Eduardo Año has denied any "gentleman's agreement" between former President Rodrigo Duterte and the Chinese government regarding the BRP Sierra Madre stationed at Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.
"There is no such thing. The Chinese have always talked about the gentleman’s agreement, but they cannot show anything that actually exists, not even a document, or even identify somebody that said that, particularly on entering into that gentleman’s agreement," Año told Palace reporters in an interview.
Harry Roque, the presidential spokesperson of former President Duterte, earlier said that the Philippine government had made an informal agreement with China, preventing the country from sending construction materials to the BRP Sierra Madre stationed at the Ayungin Shoal.
Roque claimed that the "gentleman's agreement" was established during the term of Duterte Duterte and was made known to the public by the former Foreign Affairs Secretary, Alan Peter Cayetano.
However, the former spokesperson clarified that this agreement does not involve the towing or removal of the BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin Shoal.
''For the meantime, we will fight for our rights, we will make sure we are protecting our territorial integrity and ensuring our sovereignty in our EEZ,'' said Año, who served as the secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government and Armed Forces of the Philippines during the Duterte administration.
China has frequently referenced the purported agreement to shift blame onto the Philippines for the escalating tension in the West Philippine Sea.
Originally known as the USS LST-821, the 100-meter BRP Sierra Madre served as a tank landing ship in the US Navy during World War II.
Subsequently, it was renamed USS Harnett County and repurposed as a floating base in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War.
Under an informal understanding between the Philippines and the US, the vessel was transferred to the Philippine Navy after its role in transporting thousands of Vietnamese refugees to the Philippines.
It was then redesignated as the BRP Sierra Madre.
Following years of active duty, the BRP Sierra Madre was intentionally grounded in Ayungin Shoal in 1999 to counter Beijing's expansion in the disputed waters.
