Cayetano claims wrong info being spread on West Philippine Sea issue

MANILA, Philippines — Former president Benigno Aquino III and Vice President Leni Robredo were fed with wrong information about the country’s negotiations with China, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said yesterday.

Cayetano, who left on a Philippine Airlines flight for Singapore yesterday morning to attend the 51st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Ministerial Meeting, was reacting to Aquino’s call on the Duterte administration to be more transparent in its negotiations with China regarding the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) issue.

“On the contrary, maybe Aquino should ask former (foreign affairs) secretary Albert del Rosario, ‘Were you transparent with me?’” Cayetano said prior to his departure.

“They want to impose their strategy on this administration. The problem is their strategy is not working,” Cayetano said, referring to the Aquino administration’s approach to the South China Sea issue.

During the Liberal International’s awarding ceremony where detained Sen. Leila de Lima was bestowed the Prize for Freedom award, Aquino criticized the statement of a government official who said Filipino fisherfolk are anyway permitted by China to fish in Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal.

The former chief executive stated that after the arbitration, China and the Philippines have started conducting preliminary meetings on the creation of the code of conduct in South China Sea. He wishes to know how far the Duterte administration has gone in terms of drafting the rules.

Robredo, on the other hand, said China’s presence in the South China Sea is the most serious external threat since World War II. She added that asserting the country’s rights over the disputed waters goes beyond the welfare of Filipino fishermen.

Meanwhile, on the joint exploration for oil and gas, Cayetano said, “We are very serious about the protection and enjoyment of our sovereign rights. And territorial rights or property rights are not debatable. Property rights are economic rights. The concept of joint exploration and development is one mechanism of cooperation.”

The code of conduct in the South China Sea will be tackled during the ministerial meeting in Singapore where member-nations are hoping to expedite negotiations with China, according to the foreign affairs chief.

“We’re hoping that it will be completed this year,” Cayetano stressed, adding that the Philippines is taking a crucial role in the ASEAN dialogue with China as country coordinator.

“The only way to have peace and stability in South China Sea is to have claimants and non-claimants in the region to come together,” Cayetano said.

‘50 to 100’ protests

As this developed, Robredo’s spokesman, former Akbayan party-list representative Barry Gutierrez, yesterday challenged Cayetano to make public the so-called “hundreds” of diplomatic protests which the latter has claimed were filed by the Duterte administration against China for violating the country’s sovereignty.  

Gutierrez made the statement after Cayetano insisted that the administration of President Duterte has always been transparent on its foreign policy.

“If Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano really wants the public to have ‘correct information’ about the intrusion of China in the West Philippine Sea, he should start by making public the ‘50 to 100’ protests which were allegedly filed by the DFA against China,” Gutierrez said.

“(Cayetano) should give document, not just story. We will wait for that,” he said.

Robredo has also been urging the present administration to file diplomatic protest against Beijing and assert the country’s arbitration victory against China.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration issued a landmark ruling invalidating Beijing’s nine-dash line claim over the South China Sea.

The Duterte government chose to shelve the ruling in exchange for better ties with China. – With Helen Flores