Filipinos are getting “sidetracked” by the debates over the so-called gentleman’s agreement with China on the West Philippine Sea, and are falling into a trap set by China to divert attention from its depredation in Philippine waters, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said yesterday.
MANILA, Philippines —
Former presidential spokesman Harry Roque earlier admitted it was former president Rodrigo Duterte who made an unwritten pact with China to keep the status quo on the maritime dispute and disallow any repair on the deteriorating Sierra Madre. Deliberately beached in the shoal in 1997 during the Estrada administration to serve as a military outpost, the Sierra Madre now badly needs repairs.
Although in decrepit state, the Sierra Madre should not be decommissioned – as proposed by Roque – as doing so would trigger its takeover by the Chinese, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV said yesterday. “Theoretically, China’s People’s Liberation Army can easily overrun the BRP Sierra Madre. But since it is a commissioned Navy ship, attacking it might trigger the Mutual Defense Treaty,” Trillanes said. “The moment you decommission is the time it will be vulnerable to harassment.”
“There are a lot of ways to resupply BRP Sierra Madre. I believe what the Marcos administration is doing is the right path. They are drawing international attention,” Trillanes said. He urged the Senate to open an investigation on the alleged gentleman’s agreement between Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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