MALACAÑANG on Thursday, July 25, hit former Foreign Affairs chief Albert del Rosario and former ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales for claiming that the fishing deal between President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping was kept "secret and hidden."
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said it was ridiculous for Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales to make this allegation.
He said Duterte and his administration have become "transparent" in the deals being entered into with China.
He also noted that the current administration has repeatedly told the public that "the Philippines and China “co-control” the disputed waters and that the fishermen should be “free to fish therein."
"We also find it absurd for Ms. Carpio-Morales and Mr. Del Rosario to argue that we have kept secret the agreement between PRRD and President Xi. It is not as if they or the critics were the ones who discovered said agreement and revealed it to the Filipino people,” Panelo said.
"The oral agreement was recorded by an appropriate officer during the bilateral meeting. The President was explicit about it. This Administration has been transparent as it can be," he added.
In a joint statement, Del Rosario and Morales reiterated that Duterte's fishing deal with Xi is "illegal, null, and void" as it violates the 1987 Constitution.
The two insisted that no presidential agreement with China can override the constitutional mandate that the "use and enjoyment" of the Philippines' exclusive economic zone is reserved "exclusively to Filipino citizens."
Under Section 2, Article 12 of the 1987 Constitution, "The State shall protect the nation's marine wealth in its archipelagic waters, territorial sea, and exclusive economic zone, and reserve its use of enjoyment exclusively to Filipino citizens."
Panelo, however, maintained that Duterte has the right to forge a deal with any of his counterpart, if it would benefit the country.
"At the risk of being redundant, we reiterate: The agreement was made to maintain peace and order in the disputed waters while negotiations are ongoing," he said.
"The President, as the chief architect of our foreign policy, has the authority to enter into executive agreements, written or oral," Panelo added.
The Palace official noted that Philippine jurisprudence or case law has long recognized that "such quintessential power may be exercised by the President even without the concurrence of Congress because executive agreements are usually less formal and deal with a narrower range of subject matters than treaties."
He likewise stressed that Article 12, Section 2 of the Constitution "must be read not in isolation but in relation with Article 2, Sections 2 and 4 of the same instrument."
"The provision reserving the use and enjoyment of the nation’s marine wealth to Filipino citizens, must be read in relation to the prime duty of the President to serve and to protect the Filipino people, as well as to our country’s adherence to the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation, and amity with all nations," Panelo said.
Article 2, Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution directs the Philippines to adhere to the policy of "peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation, and amity with all nations, while Section 4 under the same article emphasizes the government's mandate to "serve and protect the people."
During his fourth State of the Nations Address on July 24, the President said Manila may allow Beijing to venture into the Philippine waters, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 arbitral ruling favoring the Philippines.
Panelo backed the President's latest pronouncement.
"We live in a community of nations hence we have to comply with our international obligations, one of which is to observe friendliness towards our neighboring countries. We do not have any impediment in enforcing our Constitution and our statutes within our domestic sphere," he said.
"However, and as recognized by the President’s ardent critic Justice Antonio Carpio, in one of his ponencias, a state may not invoke provisions in its Constitution or its laws as an excuse for failure to perform its international obligations," he added.
Panelo said "conflicting" policies of states are "inevitable in cases which reach the level of an international concern," despite their ability to "craft their own respective sets of rules."
He added that the claim that Duterte and Xi's fishing agreement was entered under duress or fear is "of no moment."
"The agreement was entered into not because of any threat or vitiation of consent, but because the President sees such arrangement as pragmatic which can keep at bay any conflict between two countries, while we gain a venue where we can assert our sovereign rights," the Palace official said.
"The motivation of [Duterte] in entering into the agreement is the welfare of the Filipino people in general, not just to ensure their physical safety but also to enable them to exploit the natural resources in the waters being controlled by China as a source of their livelihood. These are being achieved now," he added.
Panelo likewise reassured that the President's stance is that the Philippines is the "owner" of the West Philippine Sea and that it is only granting fishing rights to China.
He also emphasized that the Duterte government would fight for the Philippines' sovereign right over the disputed waters in the South China Sea.
"This is analogous to the civil law aspect of ownership which has an attribute of providing the owner the right to allow others to use one's property. And such right is being exercised by the President not arbitrarily but with the country’s interest as his primary consideration," he said.
"We will continue to fight for what is ours. And we will do so in a peaceful manner via one of the most effective modes of settling international disputes, through negotiations," he added. (SunStar Philippines)