The Chief Executive can enter into an agreement with any country without the approval of Congress, the Palace said Thursday, defending President Rodrigo Duterte’s verbal agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2016 to allow Chinese fishermen to ply their trade in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
“The President, as the chief architect of our foreign policy, has the authority to enter into executive agreements, written or oral,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.
Panelo said the President can exercise “quintessential power” without the need for the approval of the
Congress because “executive agreements are usually less formal” and “with a narrower range of subject matters than treaties.”
The statement came after former top diplomat Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales called the verbal fishing deal “illegal, null and void.”
Duterte’s verbal agreement with Xi surfaced after a Chinese vessel hit and sank a Filipino fishing boat in Recto Bank, which is within the Philippines’ EEZ and left its crew in distress in open water on June 9.
The deal drew fire because the 1987 Constitution states that Filipinos should exclusively enjoy the marine wealth within the territory of the Philippines.
Meanwhile, a Pulse Asia survey conducted from June 24 to 30 found that 36 percent of its 1,200 respondents wanted the Chinese crew punished for abandoning the Filipino fishermen.
Most respondents in Metro Manila favored asking China to sanction its own fishermen.
Moreover, 26 percent of the respondent said the Chinese government should pay for the damage done to the Filipino fishing boat, the Gem-Vir 1.
Some 19 percent said China should present those involved in the incident before a Filipino court, while 10 percent said Manila and Beijing should draft rules to address similar incidents.
Only 8 percent said the Philippines should bring the incident before the United Nations.
The survey also found that 74 percent of the respondents said China cannot be trusted too much (35 percent) or at all (39 percent).
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