Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
A former top official in the previous administration said President Rodrigo Duterte did not make any commitment to the Chinese to remove the BRP Sierra Madre garrison from Ayungin Shoal.
Salvador Medialdea, Duterte’s former executive secretary, told ABS-CBN News on Tuesday that Duterte never made such a promise, even as he sought warmer ties with Beijing and Chinese President Xi Jinping during his administration.
“The former president would never do that. He never did it, because he knows that is a symbol of our sovereignty,” Medialdea said in a phone interview, clarifying that Duterte did not make such commitments “even as a joke.”
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