MANILA – Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the verbal agreement between President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping allowing Chinese fishermen to trawl within the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ) was “legally binding.”
Panelo added the deal was being enforced in the disputed territories of the West Philippine Sea even if some Cabinet officials claimed it is not enforceable.
Department of Foreign Affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. said the deal cannot be enforced while Cabinet secretary Karlo Nograles saw it as an “agreement to agree” and was meant to keep the two countries’ communication lines open.
“It’s legally binding,” Panelo said. “There are as many opinions as there are lawyers. It’s a free country. They interpret it that way, eh ‘di hayaan mo. Basta ako, kung ano ‘yung sinabi ni Presidente ‘yun na ‘yon.”
“‘Di ba ginagawa na nga? ‘Di ba ang usapan nila, mag-fish na lang kayo diyan wala tayong pakialaman. ‘Di ba ginagawa na nga eh,” Panelo added.
Panelo claimed that under the verbal agreement, Filipino fishermen are allowed to return to Scarborough Shoal, which China occupied after a standoff with Philippines in 2012.
The agreement was supposedly agreed upon by the two leaders during Duterte’s state visit to Beijing in 2016 but was only publicized last week following the ramming and sinking of a Filipino fishing boat by a Chinese vessel at Recto Bank.
Critics slammed Duterte as the deal was a violation of the Constitution, which called for the state to protect its territory and reserves the use of its resources, including those within its EEZ, to Filipinos./PN
