MANILA – The Malacañang strongly denied that President Rodrigo Duterte had a verbal agreement with China’s President Xi Jinping to allow the Chinese to fish within the country’s exclusive economic zone.
“There is no truth to the speculation of a purported verbal fishing agreement between President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and President Xi Jin Ping, nor that Chinese vessels were encouraged to stay in the West Philippine Sea despite the diplomatic protests and strongly-worded statements of Philippine government officials,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Friday.
Roque made the statement after retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said the supposed verbal deal between the country and China emboldened Chinese vessels to stay in the West Philippine Sea. He said the allegation is “without basis and is quite simply conjecture.”
A fishing deal under Philippine laws, according to Roque, can only be done by the adoption of a treaty provided under Article 2 (1) (a) of the Vienna Convention on the Law on Treaties.
“A treaty is an international agreement concluded between States in written form. Clearly, a treaty must be in writing,” he said. “No such treaty or agreement exists between the Philippines and China.”
Previously, Duterte said the Chinese were allowed to fish in Recto Bank as a result of a verbal agreement between him and Xi in 2016.
Then-Palace spokesperson Salvador Panelo in 2019 noted that the verbal deal between the two leaders was “legally binding.”
Despite the said verbal deal, Roque insisted that Duterte does not condone unlawful commercial fishing by any state on Philippine waters.
“The President recognizes that subsistence (non-commercial) fishing may be allowed as a recognition of the traditional fishing rights pointed out by the Arbitral Tribunal itself in its Award on Jurisdiction (para. 407) in the case between the Philippines and China,” asserted Roque./PN
