DFA: No solid proof call on alleged ‘new model’ transpired

Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo at the Indo-Pacific Business Forum at Shangri-La The Fort, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig on Tuesday (May 21, 2024) (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)

MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has yet to receive solid proof that a call on the alleged “new model” in the Ayungin Shoal has transpired between a Chinese diplomat and a ranking Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) official.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo stood pat on the government position that there has never been a Cabinet-level agreement on any of the Chinese proposal pertaining to the Ayungin Shoal.

The matter of wiretapping, on the other hand, would be a different subject as foreign diplomats, while accorded certain liberties to conduct their duties, must still comply with Philippine laws and regulations.

“No one’s given us any evidence yet, but obviously if there is then we take appropriate actions,” Manalo told reporters on the sidelines of the 2024 Indo-Pacific Business Forum in Taguig City.

READ: Marcos seeks probe on China’s wiretapping of AFP official

The DFA earlier said only President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. could approve or authorize deals on matters related to the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila had claimed that then AFP Western Command chief Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos agreed to a new model on the Philippine resupply missions in Ayungin Shoal with permission from ranking government officials, including Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., who himself denied the deal’s existence.

Marcos, meanwhile, said the government would investigate the alleged wiretapping of the Chinese Embassy in Manila.

“It’s in the possession of the Chinese Embassy and the Chinese government. So, until they release it, it’s harder to believe and to accept that there was an agreement,” he said over the weekend.