Duterte-Xi verbal fishing deal cannot be enforced: Locsin

July 3, 2019

President Rodrigo Duterte's supposed verbal agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping allowing Chinese fishermen to fish within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone cannot be implemented,  said Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.

Locsin told ANC Duterte may have been led to believe by his legal advisers that the Philippines can allow other countries to fish in its EEZ if there is an excess of the allowable catch as mandated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

"The verbal agreement cannot be enforced on us because it's verbal. You need a document to prove an agreement. That's the way it is," Locsin said.

Locsin said the informal pact between Duterte and Xi was “not policy”.

“He (Duterte) may have been led to believe we had a surplus and he may have said sure, that's fine,” Locsin said.

Locsin said the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) can determine whether there is a surplus of allowable catch. DMS