‘Ayungin Shoal status quo deal made in 2013’

FORMER Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea yesterday denied former President Rodrigo Duterte forged a “secret deal” with Chinese President Xi Jinping, under which the Philippines will refrain from repairing the warship BRP Sierra Madre that was grounded at the Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) to serve as a military outpost.

Medialdea, at the continuation of the joint hearing of the House committee on national defense and the special committee on the West Philippine Sea, also said the commitment to maintain the status quo began in 2013 under the Aquino administration.

Medialdea said that based on the information he gathered after assuming the post in 2016, the status quo at the Ayungin Shoal “was in a 2013 commitment of former Defense Secretary (Voltaire) Gazmin to the Chinese Ambassador Ma Keqing that he would only deliver food

and water to the marines stationed at the vessel.”
The joint panel hearing later approved a motion of Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT) to invite Gazmin to the next hearing.

Lawmakers have also invited former Duterte spokesman Harry Roque who was the first to claim Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping forged the secret deal, or “gentleman’s agreement, covering supply missions for soldiers stationed at the BRP Sierra Madre.

Medialdea said he attended two Duterte-Xi meetings, first was Xi’s state visit to the Philippines in November 2018, and Duterte’s official visit to China in August 2019, “and no gentleman’s agreement ever took place between President Duterte and President Xi.”
“President Duterte, being a lawyer, knew fully well that it was foolhardy to enter into an agreement, especially a gentleman’s agreement at that, with the President of the People’s Republic of China on matters involving sovereign rights,” he told the joint panel.

Medialdea said Duterte and Xi had eight official meetings between October 2016 and August 2019 and the former president was always accompanied by his incumbent foreign affairs secretaries, the late secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., then acting secretary now Secretary Enrique Manalo; secretary, now Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano; and secretary, now Ambassador to the United Kingdom Teodoro Locsin Jr.