Tolentino defends Duterte-Xi fishing deal anew: It's an executive agreement

Senator Francis Tolentino continued to defend the validity of the so-called  fishing deal between President Rodrigo Duterte with Chinese President Xi Jinping on live television on Tuesday, insisting that such oral agreements do not need Senate concurrence.

"It is binding, and I believe that the President will not do something against the national interest of this country. So 'yun gagawin niya. Kung meron mang agreement doon ay para 'yan sa kabutihan ng mga kababayan. So there might be some strategies known only to him, there might be some diplomatic channels being pursued," Tolentino said on ANC.

The neophyte senator, who was formerly Duterte's political adviser, defended the "verbal" fishing deal during his privilege speech on Monday. 

He was challenged by Senator Franklin Drilon who pointed out that senators don't even know the parameters of the verbal agreement between the two heads of state.

Even as Tolentino conceded that his conclusions were based on "several anecdotal reports," the senator continued to compare the fishing deal with "binding" international agreements.

Among examples he cited on Tuesday were the decision to remove missiles from Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis, and the agreement between the prime ministers of Denmark and Finland which brought an end to a dispute between the two states.

"My treatment here is that that oral agreement is an executive agreement," Tolentino said.

"Usually oral agreements like the examples I cited are utilized to act decisively with swiftness in matters involving national security away from the rigorous procedure (and) the debates," he added.

In June, Duterte said China will continue to fish even in parts of the South China Sea which are within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea "because we're friends."

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio stood firm against entering into an agreement with China that will allow it to fish within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, saying the Filipinos would be at the losing end. —Margaret Claire Layug/KG, GMA News