Cayetano open to 'debate' on West Philippine Sea
MANILA, Philippines — While urging former President Benigno Aquino III to join public discussions on the West Philippine Sea dispute, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said that he is also open to discussions on the issue.
Aquino and Cayetano have been engaged in a word war for the past week when the former challenged the latter to be transparent on his politics.
"I'm also ready anytime, any place, if you would like a one-on-one debate. If you'd like to bring (former Foreign Affairs) Secretary (Albert) Del Rosario or Sen. (Antonio) Trillanes, it shouldn't even be a debate, it should be a discussion," Cayetano said in a press briefing in Taguig City Tuesday.
Cayetano stressed that Aquino should also attend hearings and to testify on what really transpired during the 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff.
The DFA chief, however, acknowledged that the Aquino administration also did "a lot of good things, even some great things."
"Having said that, his administration was not infallible. They did mistakes and rather than just keep saying the policy is wrong, it's easy to say that our policy is wrong but you have to understand first — what was the take off point of the Duterte administration's policy," Cayetano said.
He reiterated that the Philippines lost control over Scarborough Shoal under Aquino's presidency and insisted that there were no complete records of what transpired during the standoff with China in 2012.
Cayetano, meanwhile, expressed his gratitude to Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio and Rep. Gary Alejano (Magdalo Partylist) for their statements on the possible joint exploration with China in the West Philippine Sea.
Carpio earlier told the government to make sure that the country's sovereignty would not be compromised in the proposed 60-40 sharing scheme with Beijing.
“As long as the joint development complies with the Philippine Constitution and there is no waiver of our sovereign rights under the arbitral ruling, I have no objection,” Carpio said.
Alejano, on the other hand, warned that a joint exploration with Beijing would solidify its claim on the contested waterway.
"Just because the Philippines will presumably take a larger share given the 60-40 scheme being proposed, does not guarantee that we are going to be on the winning end," Alejano said.
Cayetano assured Carpio and Alejano that any agreement with Beijing would be in accordance with the Philippine Constitution.
"We cannot come up with any agreement that is unconstitutional. That just cannot be done," Cayetano said.
He added that standard contracts in the oil and gas industry are 50-50 sharing scheme but the Philippines' starting point would be the Malampaya project. The Duterte administration is seeking for a better agreement than Malampaya.
Going back to Aquino, Cayetano clarified that he did not mean to disprespect the former president and urged him once again to answer his questions.
"It's a disservice to the Filipino people to just say, 'Google it,'" Cayetano said.
Cayetano blamed Aquino for starting their argument, claiming that it was the latter who first said in an interview that the DFA chief's politics should be "transparent as his hairstyle."
Aquino, however, was only responding to Cayetano's earlier question on Del Rosario's transparency during the previous administration's negotiations with China following the Scarborough Shoal standoff.
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