President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile
MANILA – If former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV refuses to speak about his role as the country's back-channel negotiator between the Philippines and China during the 2012 standoff at Scarborough Shoal, maybe former Philippine Ambassador to China Sonia Brady may shed light on the issue, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday night.
Duterte made this remark after former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, during his visit to Malacañang upon the invitation of the President, questioned Trillanes’ role in the negotiations between the two countries.
“Siguro kailangan malaman natin kung si --- saan ba nanggaling 'yong koneksyon ni Trillanes sa Beijing? Paano siya nagkaroon ng koneksyon doon (Perhaps we need to find out where did Trillanes connections with Beijing come from? How did he have connections there)?” Enrile said in a televised meeting.
Puzzled
Duterte said he was also “puzzled” as to why then President Benigno Aquino III assigned Trillanes to do backdoor negotiations with Chinese officials.
“It is really a wonder to me why, of course it's only President Aquino who can answer this, why he chose a military man to do the backchanneling? And the problem is it was so --- so secretive almost a sub rosa type of negotiation that was kept secret,” he said.
Duterte said the Philippines lost possession of the Scarborough Shoal just two days after Trillanes traveled to China for the 16th time.
He said the Filipino people “should demand the truth” from Trillanes, to which Enrile agreed.
“If they cannot get it from the mouth of Trillanes because maybe it would be a self-preservation thing, then at least some people in the Foreign Ministry, especially our ambassador at that time, Ambassador Brady, can explain because as I understand from you earlier, there --- she was not allowed by Trillanes to take notes,” Duterte said.
The notes allegedly detailed certain points about Trillanes’ backchannel negotiations with Chinese officials to ease tensions in the West Philippines Sea (WPS) caused by territorial disputes.
Enrile also pointed out that Trillanes had bypassed Brady at the time and then Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario in his back-channeling with China.
“Bakit binypass niya 'yong embahada natin sa Beijing? At sa impresyon ko, pati si Del Rosario na kalihim ng Foreign Affairs noon ay binypass din niya. Walang kamuwang-muwang si kuwan eh --- si Del Rosario doon sa meeting na 'yon na tungkol doon sa pinag-usapan sa Beijing (Why did he bypass our embassy in Beijing? And my impression is that he also bypassed Del Rosario. Del Rosario had no idea about that meeting that was discussed in Beijing),” the senator said.
He also questioned why Brady’s letters were missing despite the fact that these should be treated as “official records.”
“Bakit wala sa Department of Foreign Affairs 'yong kasulatan na 'yon? Dapat nandoon 'yon (Why is that letter no longer with the Department of Foreign Affairs? It should be there),” he added.
Duterte, in response, said there seemed to be a plan to sabotage the truth concerning backdoor talks from coming out.
“There is a monkey wrench in arriving at the truth and that is really what happened in the negotiations and why --- bakit nag-atras tayo (why did we withdraw)? What prompted Aquino or upon whose advice? Because I do not think that President Aquino would just decide on his own when he knows nothing about it even the negotiations. So who prompted him to arrive at that decision?” he said.
Brady’s notes
During a Senate session on Sept. 19, 2012, Enrile read Brady’s notes dated Aug. 17, 2012 about her meeting with Trillanes in Beijing.
Based on Brady’s notes, Enrile said Trillanes wanted everything that was happening in Scarborough to be made secret so that it will protect the interest of the Chinese.
“This is his twelfth. According to Mrs. Brady, that was his twelfth meeting with the Chinese. Senator Trillanes has been quietly, clandestinely meeting with the Chinese about the Scarborough and the West Philippine Sea. PNoy called the Senator when he saw that the Chinese did not keep their word to withdraw. PNoy did not know of the arrangements being made by the Senator,” Enrile said, citing Brady’s notes.
Trillanes also told Brady that no one cares about Panatag or Scarborough Shoal.
“Iyan ang sinasabi niya. Pilipino ba iyan? Makabayan ba iyan? My God! What kind of a Senator is this? ‘China was never going to put a station there’. Iyon ang sinabi niya. Sinabi ni Trillanes,” Enrile commented. “He (Trillanes) did not realize that the whole China Sea is being claimed by China. And yet he claims to be an expert in international law, expert in security, expert in geopolitical struggle, expert in foreign relations.”
Enrile added that Trillanes told the Chinese that the Philippines cannot enforce its coastal protection.
“This is the kind of a Filipino Senator we have here. He told the Chinese that we cannot enforce our coastal protection,” Enrile was quoted as saying. (PNA)
