China’s insistence that it had reached an understanding with former President Rodrigo Duterte and that it has come up with a “model” for easing tensions in the West Philippine Sea, specifically at Ayungin Shoal, which the Chinese call Ren’ ai Jiao, comes after Duterte’s admission that he had acceded to China’s demand that no repairs or reinforcements (and apparently, not even resupply missions) would be undertaken by the Philippine government on the dilapidated warship, BRP Sierra Madre – the Navy’s outpost at the shoal.
However anyone, particularly Filipinos with even just a modicum of patriotism, may look at it, this is a bristling thought, and the current President is more than justified in saying he was “horrified” by the idea that the country’s sovereignty was compromised with such an agreement.
To recall, the President, when asked by media during a Bagong Pilipino Town Hall Meeting in San Juan City earlier in April, said, “We don’t know anything about it (a secret or gentleman’s agreement between former President Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jin Ping), there is no documentation, no record, we were not briefed, nobody told me about any such agreement when I came into office. ”
Partly lapsing into Tagalog, he stressed, “Kung ang sinasabi sa agreement na yan na kailangan tayong magpermiso sa ibang bansa para gumalaw sa ating sariling teritoryo , mahirap sigurong sundan yun (If that agreement says we must ask permission from another country for us to move within our own territory, that’s difficult to follow). I am horrified by the idea that we had compromised in a secret agreement the territory, the sovereignty, and the sovereign rights of Filipinos.”
Subsequently, then-Duterte spokesperson Harry Roque spoke up, pointing out that, indeed, the former President had made a “verbal” agreement with China to ease tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
However, he said Duterte's agreement not to construct, repair, or reinforce the Navy outpost at Ayungin Shoal was “verbal, and hence, not binding on President Bongbong Marcos.”
That statement by Roque was made after the fierce water cannon attack by Chinese Coast Guard vessels on Philippine Navy-commissioned seacraft on a resupply mission to troops manning the BRP Sierra Madre. The incident severely damaged the Philippine vessel and injured several crew members on board.
Meanwhile, an exasperated President Marcos Jr. reiterated before members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines in a luncheon in Malacañang that he was not bound by any secret or gentleman’s verbal pact made by his predecessor and Chinese head Xi Jinping regarding the BRP Sierra Madre.
“The Chinese are insisting that there is a secret agreement, and perhaps there is (but) I don’t know anything about it, and should there be such a secret agreement, I am now rescinding it,” the President said, adding that if “there is a document that is signed, I’d love to see it. It does not affect the Philippines. I am rescinding it if, indeed, it does exist.”
Meanwhile, the House is set on an inquiry into the matter. The inquiry, according to House Majority Leader and Zamboanga Rep. Jose Manuel Dalipe, is aimed at “transparency and protecting our national interest,” even as Assistant Majority Leader and Zambales Rep. Jay Khonghun said it is driven by a “mounting demand for clarity” regarding what agreement was made and what it encompasses.
Khonghun, whose district includes part of the West Philippine Sea, explained that the inquiry is warranted because “this is not only about conflicting narratives but also about upholding integrity and accountability.”
“We cannot allow uncertainty to cloud our national interest,” he said. “The Filipino people deserve clarity and honesty from their leaders.”
Indeed.
