Philippine lawmaker calls Duterte-Xi verbal pact 'hearsay', says no 'sound basis' for probe
A Philippine lawmaker has called on the senate to treat the supposed "gentleman's agreement" involving former leader Rodrigo Duterte's administration and Chinese President Xi Jinping over the disputed South China Sea as "hearsay" as it mulls whether to launch an investigation into the issue.
Francis Tolentino, vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said a resolution filed in the senate was based on former presidential spokesman Harry Roque's statement that Manila was only allowed to deliver essentials, not reinforcement supplies, to its troops stationed on a rusty old warship.
The Philippines grounded the BRP Sierra Madre in 1999 to shore up its claim to Second Thomas Shoal, which it calls Ayungin - an outcrop where the Southeast Asian nation in the past has accused the Chinese coastguard of confronting its ships, including firing water cannons at them.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entirety of the South China Sea - where the Philippines and several other nations have competing claims - and has rejected a 2016 international ruling that decided in favour of Manila and found China's assertions have no legal basis.
Tolentino argued that any accord should be in written form as per the Vienna Convention on the Law of the Treaties, telling the senate that there was not enough basis for it to review the petition filed by lawmaker Risa Hontiveros.
"How can you investigate an agreement which is not written? It's just hearsay," Tolentino, a Duterte ally, told reporters on Monday.
"So I don't think there is, with all due respect, a sound basis for that [investigation] considering that the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties is very specific - an agreement has to be in writing."
Tolentino added that according to the country's constitution, a treaty should be ratified by the senate.
Hontiveros, who is seeking to unmask the reported deal, said "if the agreement is true, it seems like Duterte has surrendered the Philippine territory".
Tolentino also cast doubt on Roque's claim, saying: "I don't know where he got his information from unless he was really there when the talk happened."
Last week, former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said he spoke to Duterte, who asserted that "I have not entered into any gentleman's agreement whatsoever".
Panelo said anyone lending credence to Roque's theory was trying to attract publicity.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, who has maintained he is not aware of any such covenant, on Tuesday urged Filipinos to stand against "oppressors in our territory", GMA News reported.
"Some present threats to our sovereign rights have in fact already caused physical harm to our people. This is unacceptable, uncalled for, and unjust," Marcos said in a speech to mark the 82nd Day of Valour, as he heads to Washington to attend a trilateral summit with the leaders of the United States and Japan.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
