THE House joint panel looking into the alleged “gentleman’s agreement” between former President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the West Philippine Sea has already sent out the invitation to former defense secretary Voltaire Gazmin and former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque to appear in its next hearing to shed light on the issue.
In a press briefing on Wednesday, House Committee on National Defense and Security chairman Iloilo Rep. Raul Tupas confirmed that the invitation to Gazmin, the defense secretary during the term of former President Benigno Aquino III, and Roque, former spokesperson of Duterte, had already been invited by the Committee on National Defense and Security and Special Committee on the West Philippine Sea chaired by Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II.
“Nagpalabas na po ng invitation ang ating joint committee, pirmado po ng Chairman ng West Philippine Sea and atin po as acting Chairman. I am representing Cong. Oca Malapitan dahil he is still out of the country. Nagpalabas na po ng invitation in our next hearing para po kay former presidential spokesperson, Atty. Roque, as well as the former secretary of defense, Gazmin,” Tupas said.
He said the joint panel still has to request permission from the House leadership to conduct the next hearing as Congress is on sine die adjournment.
“We still have yet to request permission po from the leadership dahil break na kami, kung pwede ba during the period of adjournment or baka bumalik na lang kami kapag nag-resume na ang session,” Tupas said.
During the second hearing of the joint panel last Tuesday, Duterte’s former executive secretary, Atty. Salvador Medialdea, said that the status quo at the Ayungin Shoal, where the dilapidated warship BRP Sierra Madre was grounded since 1999, was part of a 2013 commitment of Gazmin to Chinese Ambassador Ma Keqing that only food and water will be delivered to the marines stationed at the BRP Sierra Madre.
Roque was quoted claiming that Duterte had a verbal agreement with China not to construct and repair Philippine facilities in the WPS, as well as bring construction materials for BRP Sierra Madre.
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