MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in China next week, months after the two countries agreed to conduct joint exploration in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
Duterte will be in Boao, China from April 9 to 10 to attend the Boao Forum for Asia, an international dialogue platform for Asia-Pacific countries and other partner nations and organizations.
As this developed, the Sandiganbayan’s Sixth and Third Divisions granted the respective motions to travel filed by Davao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr., Bohol Third District Rep. Arthur Yap and Camarines Sur Second District Rep. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte Jr. to join Duterte in his visit to China and Hong Kong.
Foreign affairs undersecretary Manuel Teehankee said Duterte and Xi would meet on the sidelines of the forum, which will also be attended by the heads of state of Austria, Mongolia, Pakistan and Singapore.
Teehankee said Duterte and Xi would discuss security issues and seek to strengthen ties between Manila and Beijing.
“On April 10, the President will hold a bilateral meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss ways to further enhance the bilateral relationship between the Philippines and China,” Teehankee said in a press briefing yesterday in Malacañang.
“The two leaders will also discuss ways to collaborate on jointly addressing pressing issues as well as common threats such as violent extremism and terrorism and cross-border traffic of illegal narcotics,” he added.
Teehankee said the two leaders may also discuss the South China Sea dispute during their meeting.
“Being an economic forum, (we don’t expect) the discussions to take place regarding the challenges at the Boao Forum for Asia. However, at the bilateral meeting, this may come up as well,” the foreign affairs official said.
“I think the President has been very clear that he maintains the Philippine position and the meetings are based on mutual respect and equality among nations,” he added.
Asked whether the joint exploration in the West Philippine Sea would be tackled during the two leaders’ meet, Teehankee replied: “I don’t have the details of the bilateral meeting.”
“But we can expect that pursuant to the follow-up from the March meeting that any joint exploration will be based on prudent principles that will be beneficial to the Philippines and China and to the Asia Pacific region in general,” he added.
China claims virtually the entire South China Sea while the Philippines, Vietnam, Malysia Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims. The expansive claim was voided by
a Hague-based arbitral court in 2016, three years after the Philippines questioned its legal basis.
Duterte has agreed to set aside the arbitral ruling to improve the Philippines’ ties with China but promised to bring up the issue before Chinese leaders within his term.
Last February, the Philippines and China agreed to form a special panel that would discuss how the two countries can jointly explore oil and gas in the South China Sea without resolving the overlapping maritime claims.
International cooperation
Teehankee said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde are also expected to attend this year’s Boao forum, whose theme is “An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity.”
Duterte is expected to address the opening plenary on April 10.
“Addressing the BFA (Boao Forum for Asia) plenary is a singular privilege for the Philippines and a privilege for acknowledging the President’s role and leadership in Asia and the ASEAN region,” Teehankee said.
“President Duterte looks forward to actively engaging his counterparts to create positive outcomes that will benefit the Filipino people in particular and the Asia Pacific region in general,” he added.
The Boao Forum for Asia was conceptualized in 1998 by then president Fidel Ramos, Australian prime minister Bob Hawke and Japanese prime minister Morihiro Hosokawa.
It was launched in February of 2001 with an initial number of 26 member-countries. The forum now has 29 member nations.
After his meeting with Xi, Duterte will be traveling to Hong Kong to meet with members of the Filipino community and overseas Filipino workers.
“He (Duterte) is eager to see and hear firsthand the concerns and the situation of our kababayans in Hong Kong,” Teehankee said.
Part of the delegation
Floirendo underwent a conditional arraignment before the anti-graft’s court Sixth Division on Thursday afternoon as a precondition for the court’s consideration of his motion to travel with the President.
Floirendo said he received an invitation letter from the Office of the President informing him that he had been chosen to be part of Duterte’s delegation.
The court granted Floirendo’s travel request after his arraignment, where he pleaded not guilty to graft charges filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with his alleged unlawful business interests in a banana plantation doing business with the government.
The graft charges stemmed from a complaint filed by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
Yap is facing two counts of graft before the Sixth Division for allegedly approving an anomalous P15.78-million car plan for the employees of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) during his term as agriculture secretary in 2009.
Villafuerte, meanwhile, is facing three counts of graft over alleged anomalous purchase of fuel worth P20 million during his term as governor of Camarines Sur in 2010.
In a hearing yesterday, the Third Division, which is handling the graft and malversation cases against Yap, likewise granted a similar travel motion filed by the Bohol lawmaker.
Yap’s cases at the Third Division stemmed from his alleged involvement in the misuse of P62.63 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel of former Misamis Occidental First District Rep. Marina Clarete from 2007 to 2009.
The Sandiganbayan divisions had earlier issued hold departure orders (HDO) against Floirendo, Yap and Villafuerte to prevent them from leaving the country without prior consent of the court.
Floirendo’s case
Floirendo entered a “not guilty” plea for his case of violation of Section 3(h) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, a provision which prohibits government officials from “directly or indirectly having financial or pecuniary interest in any business, contract or transaction... in which he is prohibited by the Constitution or by any law from having any interest.”
Alvarez alleged that Floirendo, the biggest financier of Duterte’s presidential campaign, continues to be a board member of Tagum Agricultural Development Co. Inc. (Tadeco), despite his election as congressman.
Tadeco entered into a joint venture agreement (JVA) with the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) in 1969 which allowed the firm to lease 3,000 hectares of land in the Davao Penal Colony for a banana plantation.
Tadeco is world’s largest exporter of Cavendish bananas to countries in Asia, as well as in the Middle East and Russia under the Del Monte and Dole brands.
Based on the case information sheet, Floirendo was already elected as a lawmaker when the JVA was renewed in 2003, and even though he ceased being a board member, he allegedly still owned 75,000 shares of stock of the company and even became its vice chairman in 2008. – Alexis Romero