Key officials of the previous administration were no-shows at Monday’s House of Representatives joint panel probe into the so-called “gentleman’s agreement” between former President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Former Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, former National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, and former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea all failed to appear before the joint hearing of the House Committee on National Defense and Special Committee on the West Philippine Sea.

Zambales Rep. Jefferson Khonghun, who initiated the probe, suspected that Lorenzana, Esperon, and Medialdea intentionally skipped the hearing.

“I wonder what they were avoiding. Because they are the ones who know if there really was a gentleman’s agreement and what was included in it,” Khonghun said.

“They should not avoid this matter because it is a big matter, especially regarding our sovereignty and national territory,” he added.

Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop moved to issue a show-cause order against the officials, which the panel approved.

Meanwhile, Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel warned the House would be forced to use its authority to compel the “important actors” to attend the hearings.

The panel said it would reinvite Lorenzana, Esperon and Medialdea, along with erstwhile chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo and Duterte’s former mouthpiece Harry Roque, citing their “conflicting statements.”

Roque made headlines after divulging that his former boss, Duterte, had forged a gentleman’s agreement with Xi, which Panelo vehemently denied.

Members of the panel questioned the action of the security departments concerned in sending their incumbent officials, whom the lawmakers said were not privy to the supposed Duterte-Xi secret pact.

Sorsogon Rep. Wowo Fortes said that leaving the issue unresolved would only prompt the Chinese to continuously harass Philippine resupply vessels to justify their action against the Philippines for allegedly violating the deal.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reiterated that the Philippines did not enter into any agreement to abandon its sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its exclusive economic zone, including the Ayungin Shoal.

“Any agreement or arrangement would be made only if authorized by the highest level of government. Only the president of the Republic of the Philippines can approve and authorize agreements entered into by the Philippine government on matters pertaining to the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea,” DFA Assistant Secretary Aileen Mendiola-Rau said.

Likewise, the Department of National Defense, the National Security Council, and the Philippine Coast Guard said they had no knowledge of or did not have any records in their possession detailing or potentially showing the contours of such a deal.

DND Undersecretary Ignacio Madriaga, meanwhile, appealed to the House to “swiftly” conclude the investigation. He claimed that failing to do so would only allow China to utilize the country’s democratic institutions to propagate illegal and deceptive narratives designed to undermine the public’s support for the government.

“While we are handicapped in answering questions or providing related information on this matter, we maintain the view that these House committee investigations should be conducted with the end goal of finding out the truth and immediately concluding this issue,” Madriaga said.

He said, “China is using the supposed agreement and our supposed non-compliance with it to justify their illegal and coercive, aggressive action and behavior in the WPS.”

DoJ State Counsel Fretti Ganchoon said a gentleman’s agreement, usually in the form of an oral treaty, could be allowed under international law.

“Oral treaties are allowed under international law. But whether or not it is legal would depend on its contents. That’s why we need to know the actual contents,” she said.

According to Ganchoon, there are two kinds of treaties under domestic law: executive agreements and treaties proper.

An executive agreement does not need the Senate’s concurrence, while a treaty proper must be submitted to the Senate for its concurrence in the President’s ratification.

Duterte had denied having an unwritten agreement with China concerning the WPS. He, however, admitted to agreeing to maintain the status quo in the contested waterway, in which no armed patrols would be moving in the area, to avoid tension and war.

The alleged agreement was widely believed to have given China leverage to shift the blame onto the Philippines amid the escalating tensions in the WPS.