Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 18) – Former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile questioned the appointment of former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV by former President Benigno Aquino III as the country’s negotiator with China at the height of the 2012 West Philippine Sea row.
“Paano siya nagkaroon ng koneksiyon doon? Mismo ako naging guest ako ng Beijing, wala akong connection gaya ni Trillanes,” said Enrile, who was invited by President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday in his national address.
[Translation: How did he have connections there? Even I, who also became a guest in Beijing, didn’t have connections like that of Trillanes.]
Trillanes served as the Aquino government’s backdoor negotiator with Chinese government officials in 2012. The informal talks were aimed at diffusing tensions over Scarborough Shoal, an area within Manila’s exclusive economic zone but were occupied by Chinese vessels in April that year.
In the televised address, Enrile recalled how he was summoned by Aquino to a meeting which included Trillanes and then Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario to discuss the Scarborough Shoal standoff.
Enrile said it was during this meeting that Trillanes revealed to him that he had been to China to find a solution to the standoff upon Aquino’s orders, which the former president, he said, would later confirm.
“Sinabi ko na dahan-dahan, Mr. President. Medyo masalimuot yata iyan sapagkat hindi natin alam kung ano mga pinag-usapan nila Trillanes doon sa kinakausap niya sa China. Kaya mag-iingat tayo,” Enrile said.
[Translation: I told him (Aquino) that we should go slowly. It’s very complicated because we don’t know what Trillanes and the Chinese officials had talked about. We need to be careful.]
Enrile added that then Philippine Ambassador to China Sonia Brady had complained to Del Rosario that Trillanes did not consult with the embassy and allegedly bypassed immigration protocols.
The former Senate President claimed the United States served as the mediator between the Philippines and China during the standoff. He appealed to Del Rosario to reveal who appointed Washington to mediate the dispute.
“Bakit hindi man lang pinagsabihan ng Amerika ang Tsina na tuparin niya ang kasunduan? Ang impresyon kumbaga ay parang ginamit lang tayo sa bagay na iyon,” said Enrile. “Kaya ngayon, sila ang nakapuwesto doon. Tayo ang nawala.“
[Translation: Why did America fail to insist on China to follow the agreement? My impression was that we were used. That’s why now they (Chinese) are occupying the place (West Philippine Sea). We lost our possession.]
In a tweet, Trillanes answered Enrile’s question on why Aquino chose him as the backdoor negotiator, saying the former president simply found him more trustworthy.
“Nalutas na ni PNoy ‘yun. Wala ng mga barko ng China sa loob nun. Wala ring reclamation dun. Nasa Spratlys ngayon ang problema na ayaw harapin ni Duterte,” Trillanes posted.
[Translation: PNoy (former President Aquino) already solved that problem. There were no more Chinese ships inside (the Scarborough Shoal) then. There is no reclamation in that area. The problem now is in the Spratlys, which Duterte doesn’t want to face.]
Beijing refuses to recognize the Philippines’ 2016 arbitral win legitimizing the country’s claims in the West Philippine Sea. It continues to swarm vessels and intimidate Filipino fishermen in areas well within Manila’s exclusive economic zone.
