Former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea
Former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said that the status quo agreement on the Ayungin Shoal—that is, only food and water would be provided to the troops stationed there—began in 2013, during the late President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III’s administration.
During the joint hearing of the Committee on National Defense and Security and Special Committee on WPS at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Medialdea said it was former Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin who entered into the supposed “gentleman’s agreement” with Chinese ambassador Ma Keqing 11 years ago.
“The information I gathered was that there was a previous commitment that food and water will be allowed to be shipped to the debilitated vessel since 2013,” the former executive secretary said.
“That’s what I gathered when the decision came out 12 days after we assumed office. I was just asking around what’s the present status of the Ayungin Shoal because I know there was a vessel there,” Medialdea added.
Medialdea served as former President Rodrigo Duterte’s executive secretary, while Gazmin served as Aquino III’s defense secretary from 2010 to 2016.
No agreement between Duterte-Xi
The former executive secretary said that the Duterte administration, which took office shortly after the Philippines won the arbitration case, was simply honoring the 2013 commitment made by Gazmin concerning the delivery of food and water to the troops stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre.
Medialdea refuted the existence of any “gentleman’s agreement” on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in all the eight formal meetings between Duterte and Xi between October 2016 and August 2019.
“In all the eight official meetings, he was always accompanied by his incumbent foreign affairs secretaries. Wala pong whatsoever, including the two where I was personally present,” Medialdea said, adding that he attended two meetings in November 2018 and August 2019.
“Of these two official meetings I attended, no gentleman’s agreement ever took place between former President Duterte and President Xi. President Duterte being a lawyer, knew fully well that it is foolhardy to enter into agreement, especially a gentleman’s agreement at that, with the president of the People’s Republic of China on matters involving sovereign rights,” Medialdea said. (TCSP)
APPALLED over an ABS-CBN news report on his remark claiming poverty as a figment of imagination by critics of the administration, Presidential Adviser on Poverty Alleviation Secretary Larry Gadon threatened to burn the studio of the media network.
“Puro kasinungalingan ang ginagawa dyan sa ABS-CBN Dapat talagang sunugin yang studio na yan eh,” Gadon said in an interview with Teleradyo Serbisyo, a news program under the media company which owns the studio has wanted to burn down.
He also told the news anchor to find another station where they can work – ‘Yang ABS-CBN na yan nung binawian ng prangkisa isinara na… eh lumipat na kayo sa ibang istasyon dahil yang ABS-CBN na yan walang kwentang istasyon yan… puro paninira”
Gadon, who has come under fire over his “haka-haka” description of prevailing poverty in the country, denied the report, adding that his remarks were only directed at critics who are making a big deal on the price of rice in the market but can afford to buy expensive coffee.
“Sana ang ating mga kababayan ay patuloy na suportahan ang Marcos administration, sapagkat sa totoo lang iyong mga nagsasabi ng napakahirap ng buhay ay sila lang ang nagsasabi niyan. Haka-haka lang nila iyan,” Gadon said in a televised interview.
“Magpunta ka sa mga mall punong-puno, ibig sabihin mataas ang purchasing power ng mga tao. Pumunta kahit sa mga probinsya iyong mga branches ng mga fast food – sa Jollibee, McDonalds punong-puno, ibig sabihin mataas ang purchasing power ng mga Pilipino. Lumabas ka ng kalsada at napakaraming mga bagong kotse, napakatrapik, ano ang ibig sabihin niyan, marami ang nakakabili ng kotse, marami ang nakakabili ng sasakyan – that means maganda ang ekonomiya,” he added.
Gadon, a known Marcos loyalist, is a disbarred lawyer. (ANGEL F. JOSE)
