Duterte, Enrile revive issue of Trillanes role in China negotiations during Scarborough standoff

Former senator Juan Ponce Enrile on Monday night questioned the role another ex-legislator, Antonio Trillanes IV, had in the 2012 standoff between China and the Philippines at Scarborough Shoal.

During President Rodrigo Duterte's weekly Talk To The People briefing, Enrile said that when he was Senate President, he told then-President Benigno S. Aquino to be wary of Trillanes, who at the time was conducting talks with China regarding the situation at the shoal.

"Siguro kailangang malaman natin kung saan ba nanggaling yung koneksyon ni Trillanes sa Beijing. Paano siya nagkaroon ng koneksyon doon, ni mismo ako, naging guest ako ng Beijing, wala akong koneksyon na gaya ni Trillanes na ganon na pwede niyang lapitan ang mga pinuno ng Tsina?" he said.

[We probably need to know where Trillanes' connections in Beijing came from. How did he get connections there, when even I, who had been a guest of Beijing, didn't have the kind of connections he had where he could approach the leaders of China."]

Even Aquino probably would not have had those kinds of connections, Enrile continued. "Bakit si Trillanes nagkaroon ng koneksyon na ganon? Yun ang isang misteryo na hanggang ngayon, dapat malaman kung anong sagot." 

[How did Trillanes get those connections? that is a mystery that we need to know the answer to.]

Duterte, who questioned Aquino's choice of having a "military man" conduct the back-channel talks, replied that Trillanes traveled to China 16 times, and that during his last visit, "two days after, we lost Scarborough Shoal."

Enrile also claimed that then-Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario told them that the Philippines' ambassador to China at the time, Sonia Brady, had complained that Trillanes had "bypassed" her. 

In a tweet on Monday night, Trillanes responded, "Why did I bypass Amb. Brady? Check your facts Mr. Enrile. Amb. Brady first went to Beijing in early August or late July when I was wrapping up the backchannel talks. SHE WAS NEVER PRESENT AT ANY BACKCHANNEL MEETING FROM MAY TO JULY.

Upon her arrival, at the first instance, I briefed her on the whole talks at the Ph Embassy WITH NO CHINESE PRESENT. That was the only time I met her. After that briefing, I concluded the backchannel talks."

Why did I bypass Amb. Brady? Check your facts Mr. Enrile. Amb. Brady first went to Beijing in early August or late July when I was wrapping up the backchannel talks. SHE WAS NEVER PRESENT AT ANY BACKCHANNEL MEETING FROM MAY TO JULY.

— Sonny Trillanes IV (@TrillanesSonny) May 17, 2021

In 2012, Enrile claimed that based on Brady's notes, Trillanes had manifested that the Philippines does not care about Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal. But Trillanes said that Brady was never present during the back-channel negotiations.

The Scarborough Shoal standoff began on April 8, 2012, when the Philippine Navy tried to apprehend Chinese fishing vessels at the shoal but were blocked by Chinese marine surveillance ships.

Trillanes, then a senator, conducted backdoor negotiations with China on the issue in the months following the incident, saying he looked up Chinese officials he had met on a previous official visit.

In June 2012, the US State Department brokered an agreement between the two sides to withdraw from the area simultaneously. The Philippines pulled back its ships, but China did not comply with the agreement. — BM, GMA News