Trillanes calls Cayetano 'political snake' over change of stance on Panatag standoff

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV on Sunday slammed Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano for suddenly questioning the Aquino administration’s efforts over the Panatag (Scarborough) standoff.

For this, Trillanes called Cayetano, his former colleague and vice presidential rival a “political snake.”

“Sec. Cayetano has proven to be a political snake. The Panatag standoff happened in 2012 during which time Cayetano was still a loyal ally of the Aquino administration, so obviously, he never saw anything wrong with how PNoy resolved it then,” Trillanes said in a lengthy statement.

Cayetano earlier said the Philippines lost control over the Panatag Shoal under former President Benigno Aquino III’s administration.

READ: Cayetano fires back at Aquino: We both lost our hair, you lost Scarborough

The foreign affairs chief also questioned Trillanes' back channel talks with Beijing, noting that the senator made 16 trips to China as Aquino's emissary.

Cayetano claimed Trillanes had refused to reveal the purpose and nature of his trips when asked during a Senate session by then Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile.

Trillanes: Mission as back channel negotiator accomplished

Trillanes aired his side and said Cayetano previously defended him during his exchange with Enrile, citing that the DFA chief, was his minority leader then.

“In fact, I clearly remember telling him, as well as the other senators then, of the gist of my mission as back channel negotiator,” Trillanes said.

“For that matter, I had multiple media interviews about it but, again, Cayetano never saw anything wrong with it then,” he added.

Trillanes added that Cayetano is “pretending to be blind and deaf.”

The senator explained that he was designated as the back channel negotiator by Aquino in May 2012 to “de-escalate the tension in the shoal.” He said this was during the height of the Panatag standoff when there were about 80 to 100 Chinese vessels going in and around the shoal.

He clarified that Panatag Shoal is in Zambales area and is not part of the Kalayaan Island Group in Palawan.

Trillanes said part of his mission was to reduce the number of Chinese ships in the area and that sovereignty was not covered and was never discussed.

“The negotiations lasted for about 3 months, at the end of which we were able to reduce the number of Chinese ships in the area to just 3, all of which were positioned outside the shoal. In short, I was able to accomplish his mission,” Trillanes said.

Trillanes said the refusal of China to remove the three remaining ships in the shoal prompted Aquino to file the arbitration case which we eventually won in 2016.

“Those are the facts and the circumstances about this issue and I will not allow Cayetano to twist them,” Trillanes said.

'Why not defend Philippines' sovereignty?'

Trillanes, a fierce critic of the president, also questioned Cayetano and Duterte.

"Why didn’t you follow through on our historic victory at the arbitration court? Or better yet, Why aren’t you fighting for our sovereignty the way you promised during the campaign?”

In April 2016, Duterte vowed to personally ride a jet ski and plant the Philippine flag on the Spratlys Island or Scarborough Shoal so he could assert the country’s sovereignty amid China’s encroachment. He made the promise during the third presidential debate for the 2016 elections.

However, two years into his presidency, only National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Special Assistant to the President Bong Go and the president’s son Sebastian Duterte rode jet skis in the waters of Casiguran to assert claim on the undisputed Philippine Rise.

Duterte explained that he was not advised by the Presidential Security Group to push through with the jet ski plan due to lack of fuel.