Marcos ‘horrified’ by idea of ‘agreement’ between China, Philippines on South China Sea

MANILA: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr (pic) said he is “horrified” by the idea of the so-called gentleman’s agreement between China and the Philippines regarding the country’s territory.

According to Marcos, his administration also has no information or idea about the agreement.

“We don’t know anything about it; there is no documentation, there is no record. We were not briefed. When I came into office, nobody told me that there is such agreement,” Marcos said in an ambush interview after the Bagong Pilipinas Town Hall Meeting held in San Juan City.

“If the agreement states that we must get permission from another country just to navigate within our territory, it would be difficult to follow that kind of thing. I am horrified by the idea that we have compromised the territory, sovereignty, and sovereign rights of the Filipinos into a secret agreement,” he added.

Marcos noted that he still needs to clear up the issue with the Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian.

“We still have to clear it up, we are waiting for Ambassador Huang from Beijing,” he said.

“No matter where you look, there are no records, so it was all done in secret. Why did they do it, if they did why did they keep it a secret? It’s quite perplexing; it’s not a good situation,” he added. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN