By Junex Doronio
MANILA — Despite the contradicting statements of two top officials of the previous administration, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday (10 April 2024) said he was “horrified” by the alleged “gentleman’s agreement” between his predecessor Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the West Philippine Sea.
“I am horrified at the idea that we have compromised through a secret agreement the territory, sovereignty, and sovereign rights of the Philippines,” Marcos Jr. bluntly said.
Former Palace spokesman Harry Roque earlier claimed that Duterte and Xi had agreed to keep the “status quo” in the Ayungin Shoal, where the World War Two-era ship BRP Sierra Madre is deliberately grounded since 1999 during the administration of then President Joseph “Erap” Estrada.
But former Presidential Chief Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo retorted that Duterte himself said there was no such deal.
Marcos Jr. said he was not “briefed” by the officials of the former administration regarding the alleged agreement.
“We don’t know anything about it. There was no documentation, there was no record. We were not briefed about when I came into office, walang nagsabi sa amin na merong ganong usapan,” the President maintained.
For her part, opposition leader Senator Risa Hontiveros said such a deal can be considered an act of treason.
She has filed Senate Resolution No. 982 calling for a probe into the “secret deal” between Duterte and Xi Jinping.
“And, in the words of former Philippine Navy flag officer-in-command Eduardo Santos, an act of treason. This ‘gentleman’s agreement’ is treasonous,” Hontiveros said.
(el Amigo/MNM)