Former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on Tuesday revealed during a hearing of the House Committee on National Defense and Security with the Special Committee on the West Philippine Sea that the “gentlemen’s agreement” between China and the Philippines was brokered in 2013, during the administration of late President Benigno “Noynoy” C. Aquino III.
The secret agreement came three years before the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling quashed China’s claims over the disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea. However, the former Palace official could not present any proof of the alleged Gazmin promise, while Gazmin’s successor, Delfin Lorenzana, said he was not aware of it.Medialdea, Lorenzana and another Duterte official, former national security adviser Hermogenes Esperon, handed over their testimonies to the joint committee hearing.
Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez of 1-Rider party-list group said the Duterte administration’s decision to preserve the status quo in Ayungin came as a “shocking surprise” to him. For her part, Rep. France Castro, nominee of ACT Teachers party-list group said the statements of Medialdea, Lorenzana, and Esperon that no gentleman’s agreement was made on Ayungin Shoal “prove that all those assertions by China that such an agreement existed are all lies.”
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