MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV was not one of the country’s policy makers on affairs with China and he was only allowed by President Aquino to explore an open avenue to ease tensions between the two countries when the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal standoff broke out, Malacañang clarified yesterday.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte also said it would be up to President Aquino to decide whether Trillanes would continue his back channel talks with China.
“That will depend entirely on the President. That’s usually assessed on a case to case basis and ultimately it will be the President who will be making that decision,” Valte said over radio dzRB.
Sources revealed that during the full Cabinet meeting that was also attended by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. with the military and the Philippine Coast Guard in July, it was decided to adopt the policies proposed by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
It was also in this July 5 meeting that Enrile said Trillanes hurled allegations against Del Rosario. But the meeting ended with agreement on how they would go about implementing policies toward China.
Trillanes had made suggestions during this meeting but these were not adopted.
In his speech at the Senate, Enrile revealed the conversations between Trillanes and Philippine Ambassador to China Sonia Brady showed Trillanes’ alleged pro-China leanings which were not in consonance with the country’s policies as decided by the full Cabinet.
Asked why the President tasked persons like Trillanes without foreign affairs expertise to handle sensitive matters like territorial disputes, Valte said the President answered the issue last Friday.
“(The President) said at that time that it was broached, we were looking to open a channel that was not there when it was happening and at the time, we had nothing to lose,” Valte said.
Lawyer Oliver Lozano, on the other hand, said
President Aquino has exposed himself to possible impeachment by acceding to the request of China to have Trillanes as back door negotiator.
“The acceptance of the request of China (for Trillanes) to act as back-door negotiator is an act of disloyalty to the Republic because Trillanes has no choice but to advance the political interest of China,” Lozano said.
Lozano has filed charges of treason against Trillanes and President Aquino before the Office of Ombudsman.
He said the approval of the President to the request of China to allow Trillanes as back-door negotiator made him a conspirator by indispensable participation.
“It now up to the Ombudsman to determine the commission of treason and possible filing of an impeachment against the President and criminal charges against Trillanes at the Sandiganbayan,” he said.
Valte, on the other hand, said they did not have any information on the source of Enrile in accusing Trillanes of being backed by a business group.
Aquino had said, “If there was an available channel at that time, at that particular moment, there was no possible harm... we had nothing to lose by trying to open another communications channel and that was really just it.”
Valte added they do not know the contents of the reports of Brady read by Enrile.
Asked why the President tapped Trillanes instead of a seasoned diplomat, Valte said, “At the time, we had the available channel.”
“And remember, what we’re talking about here is really just to help de-escalate tension. And it would help if there was also another line of communication that was open. We’re not talking about crafting of policy anyway,” she said.