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The Philippines
This Week in AsiaPolitics

South China Sea: Duterte-Xi pact investigation fuels political payback allegations

  • Philippine lawmakers have vowed to investigate ex-president Rodrigo Duterte over a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ he allegedly made with China’s Xi Jinping
  • Observers speculate the looming probe is politically motivated by President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s ongoing feud with his predecessor

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Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte (left) meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in July last year. Photo: AP
Alan Robles
The Philippines’ House of Representatives has said it will formally investigate Rodrigo Duterte over an unwritten pact he allegedly made secretly with China, a move some observers say is aimed at dampening the former president’s political clout ahead of elections next year.
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In announcing the investigation on Monday, house speaker Martin Romualdez, a cousin of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, said “we support [the president’s] denouncement of the secret gentleman’s agreement between former President Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping”.
The agreement was first mentioned early last month by former Duterte spokesman Harry Roque, who said that, while he was in office, Duterte had made a private deal with Xi in which Beijing would not build any new military outposts in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
A Philippine flag flutters from the BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated Philippine military detachment on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. File photo: Reuters
A Philippine flag flutters from the BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated Philippine military detachment on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. File photo: Reuters
In return, Manila would not send construction materials to repair the BRP Sierra Madre – a World War II era navy ship that was deliberately grounded on the Second Thomas Shoal to serve as an outpost.
Roque’s revelation quickly generated outrage and calls for Duterte to be charged with treason. Marcos Jnr said he was “horrified” by the news, claiming he did not know anything about the agreement and that he had been given the runaround by officials when he tried to look into it.
Duterte responded to his critics by denying that he had ever struck a “gentlemen’s deal” with Xi that would entail forfeiting his country’s territorial rights, but argued that Beijing was ready to “go to war” so he had agreed with Xi to maintain the “status quo” in the disputed waters.
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The announcement of the investigation into Duterte’s agreement comes in the midst of an increasingly bitter feud between the Marcos and Duterte clans. Over the past four months, the Dutertes have held rallies calling for Marcos Jnr to step down. Congressman Pantaleon Alvarez, a key Duterte ally, called on the military to withdraw its support for Marcos Jnr and force him to resign.
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