‘Secret’ deal compromised sovereignty – Marcos

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said he was “horrified” by the supposed secret agreement between former president Rodrigo Duterte and China on the West Philippine Sea, saying such a deal compromised the “territory, sovereignty and the sovereign rights of the Philippines.”

Speaking to reporters in San Juan City, the President denied the existence of a “gentleman’s agreement” reportedly struck under Duterte with Beijing to keep the status quo in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

“We don’t know anything about it; there is no documentation, there is no record. We were not briefed. When I came into office, nobody told me that there is such an agreement,” Marcos said.

“If the agreement states that we must get permission from another country just to navigate within our territory, it would be difficult to follow that kind of thing. I am horrified by the idea that we have compromised the territory, sovereignty, and sovereign rights of the Filipinos in a secret agreement,” he added.

Marcos said he still needs to clear up the issue with the Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian.

“We are waiting for Ambassador Huang to come back from Beijing. He left, and I asked to see him. When he returns, he should explain… who did he talk to and what did they talk about and what was agreed upon?” the President said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. talks at the Bagong Pilipinas Town Hall Meeting in San Juan City on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. With him were Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos, Jr., Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Romando Artes, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista and San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora. PHOTOS BY RENE H. DILAN

“No matter where you look, there are no records, so it was all done in secret. Why did they do it? If they did, why did they keep it a secret? It’s quite perplexing; it’s not a good situation,” he added.

Asked if he would talk to Duterte about the agreement, Marcos said his administration had been talking to officials of the previous administration, but they had not received any straight response from them.

“They are talking to his former officials. Maybe not the President himself but his former officials. We’re asking them, what is this? Explain the agreement to us so we will know what to do,” Marcos said.

The supposed gentleman’s agreement was bared by former Palace spokesman Harry Roque, but its existence was denied by lawyer Salvador Panelo, the chief presidential legal counsel during the Duterte administration.

Part of the alleged deal was that Filipinos could only deliver food and water supplies to BRP Sierra Madre in the Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.

The BRP Sierra Madre is a World War II-era tank landing ship that the Philippine Navy deliberately ran aground on Ayungin Shoal in 1999 to serve as a military outpost and as a symbol of Philippine sovereignty over the disputed territory.

In August last year, the President denied that the Philippine government had promised China to remove BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin Shoal.

“I’m not aware of any such arrangement or agreement that the Philippines will remove from its own territory its ship, in this case, the BRP Sierra Madre from the Ayungin Shoal,” Marcos said in a video message.

The President said he would rescind any commitment should there really be an agreement between the two countries on the removal of the vessel.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce. Its territorial claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

Parts of the waters within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone have been renamed the West Philippine Sea.

In 2016, an international arbitration tribunal in The Hague said China’s claims had no legal basis, a decision that Beijing has rejected.

A ranking opposition lawmaker sided with the President, saying any secret deal was a mistake.

In a statement, Albay 2nd District Rep. Edcel Lagman said Duterte’s “unilateral and surreptitious” agreement with Beijing’s principal official “is a grave mistake and indeed compromises Philippine sovereignty.”

He said such an agreement would have “no binding effect.”

He added that there could never be a “gentleman’s agreement” with a chronic aggressor like China in the West Philippine Sea.

Meanwhile, leaders of various youth organizations staged a “March for Peace” from Morayta to Mendiola in Manila on Wednesday to condemn China’s aggressive actions in Ayungin Shoal and to voice their support for the policies and programs of President Marcos in the West Philippine Sea.

The Alyansa Bantay Kapayapaan at Demokrasya (ABKD) released white doves to symbolize peace and the freedom to express their feelings and signed a statement on the willingness of the Filipino youth to fight for their country.

Rodolfo Villena Jr., ABKD convenor and spokesman, said Filipinos should unite and stand up to defend the country’s sovereignty.

“China has no right to threaten and harm our soldiers and fishermen who are only insisting on their right to our territory,” said Villena.

They called on lawmakers to speed up the institution of mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps to prepare the youth for any threat to the country’s sovereignty.

“We have to help our nation to have that consciousness, that awareness that we have to defend our territory,” Villena said. — Red Mendoza and Franco Jose C. Baroña

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‘Secret’ deal compromised sovereignty – Marcos

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