Erin Tañada: Gov’t ‘owes us transparency’ in PH-China agreement

“The government owes us absolute transparency here,”  Senatorial aspirant Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III said on Tuesday after it was reported that the Philippines is expected to sign at least 20 “political and economic” agreements with China during the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

READ: PH, China to sign 20 agreements

Tañada questioned the government’s intentions in these agreements, saying they must  be forthcoming in the “intent and contents of these proposed agreements with China.”

“If they are telling the truth and they are protecting the Filipinos’ interests, then what have they got to hide? Surely there is no harm in disclosing contracts that are all above-board and will receive the people’s approval,” he said in a statement.

Tañada also said the government must exert more effort in defending the West Philippine Sea as the country’s sovereignty is different from China.

“It is not enough for the administration to say, ‘we are not going to sacrifice Filipino sovereignty’ because, obviously, from the way the government has been behaving towards the Chinese in the West Philippine Sea, in its immigration policy, and in the award of key contracts in public infrastructure to the Chinese, the people’s definition of what constitutes ‘Filipino sovereignty’ is vastly different from theirs,” he said. /ee