Cayetano on Goldberg claim: Nothing suspicious with my China trip

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano. LYN RILLON/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Nothing fishy or suspicious.

This was what Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano has to say on the claim of outgoing US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg that he made an “unpublicized” trip to China in June.

Goldberg has said in a television interview that Cayetano and Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade went to China ahead of President Rodrigo Duterte’s inauguration.

While Tugade has denied the accusation, Cayetano confirmed he went to China but was quick to say that nothing was “malicious” with his trip.

READ: Tugade denies making ‘unpublicized’ trip to China, mocks US intel

“Is this an admission that they are spying on us, on a Cabinet member and a member of the Senate? Was there anything wrong, malicious of me going to anywhere, to China?” Cayetano told reporters in a Palace briefing.

The senator said he sees nothing wrong with his trips abroad, adding that he also went to the US on June 2105.

“As a senator, I can meet my counterparts, I can travel. There is such a thing as inter-parliamentary relations,” he said.

“There’s nothing fishy, nothing suspicious about all of these trips,” he added.

Cayetano, who said it was his initiative to go to China, did not give details of the trip but noted he would “make a full report” at the right time.

“At the right time, I will make a full report if at all I’m doing something, whether it’s in my initiative or I was directed to,” he said.

He said he was writing a letter to Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. “to complain and protest the actions of Ambassador Goldberg.”

“We do not have departure or arrival statements so what does he mean unpublicized trip? Every time I go abroad, do I give press conferences?” he said.

Cayetano slammed Goldberg for his “false” accusations.

“What business does the US ambassador or any ambassador have, monitoring trips or criticizing whether its unpublicized or publicized? Is the US ambassador engaged in tsismis (gossip) and rumor-mongering, and in false information?” he said. RAM