Muntinlupa Representative Rodolfo Biazon. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
President Benigno Aquino should support Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario in the internecine row over the search for a diplomatic solution to the Philippines’ territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea, an administration congressman said Wednesday.
A diplomatic official had the same message for the administration, saying the government should have only one voice in dealing with China in the search for peaceful solution to the dispute.
Official channel only
Rep. Rodolfo Biazon, chairman of the House committee on national defense and security, said the President could not afford to digress from the official government position on the dispute as already expressed by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
“It would not be very good for the President to steer away from the official line, meaning the official channel which is the Department of Foreign Affairs,” Biazon told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview.
“The President cannot otherwise follow any other direction,” he added. “That is the only way.”
Contradicting DFA chief
Foreign Undersecretary Rafael Seguis said the unofficial role of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV was not helping the effort toward a peaceful resolution of the dispute.
“It’s as if he is contradicting our No. 1 spokesperson of foreign policy, who is no other than the Secretary of Foreign Affairs [Albert del Rosario],” Seguis said.
“I think we should have only one voice . . . To me this is not helping really,” Seguis said, referring to Trillanes’ back-channel work for a settlement of the dispute with China.
Trillanes claims his dealings with China has the approval of President Aquino, but Del Rosario, though recognizing the importance of going through back channels, believes Trillanes, who has no diplomatic training, is spoiling the DFA’s West Philippine Sea strategy.
“I think that while back channeling has its purpose, in our case it’s doing more harm than good. It is important that we speak with one voice on this matter,” Del Rosario said in a recent interview with the Inquirer without naming Trillanes.
Brash response
But Trillanes, a former junior naval officer who helped to lead a mutiny against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in July 2003, fired back on Tuesday, accusing Del Rosario of ineffectiveness in dealing with China.
His brash response led to Sen. President Juan Ponce Enrile’s questioning his involvement in the talks with China and to the sharp exchanges between them in the Senate Wednesday.
That back and forth between Enrile and Trillanes might have jeopardized the national interest, Biazon told reporters yesterday.
A former military chief, Biazon urged Mr. Aquino to handle the row between Del Rosario and Trillanes “very delicately,” warning that China would be watching developments very closely.
Unsynchronized
Biazon acknowledged that going through back channels is a “normal recourse in negotiations.”
“Unfortunately in this back channeling, there is a difference in the decisions and directions by the official channel and the back channel,” he said. “The efforts of the back channel and the official channel are not properly synchronized.”
Describing Del Rosario as the President’s “alter ego,” Biazon said Mr. Aquino should resolve the matter and avoid a “situation where the official channel is put into question.”
Asked if the President made a bad move in tapping Trillanes as his unofficial negotiator with China, the congressman said: “The President is the architect of our foreign policy, especially in this case where it is not just foreign relations policy, but (also) national security, (that is involved).”
“If Senator Trillanes was commissioned to be the back channel, which should not have been made public in the first place, that is his (the President) move and the acceptance of it is also the personal decision on the part of Senator Trillanes,” he added.
No war freak
Seguis defended Del Rosario against Trillanes’ comment that the DFA chief was a “war freak” who nearly got the Philippines into an armed confrontation with China over Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.
“Our secretary of foreign affairs is a typical diplomat. Of course, he’s not a war freak. He’s a peace-loving official of the department of the government,” Seguis said.
Seguis spoke to reporters after the launch of the DFA’s satellite passport-processing office at Robinson’s Galleria in Quezon City. He represented Del Rosario, who could not attend the launch. No explanation was offered for his absence. With a report from DJ Yap