Former National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr (Dexter Barro II/MANILA BULLETIN)

Retired army general and former National Security Adviser (NSA) Hermogenes Esperon Jr. appeared Tuesday, May 21, before a House of Representatives committee hearing to deny the existence of an alleged “gentleman’s agreement” between former President Rodrigo Duterte and President Xi Jinping of China.

“There was no secret agreement as far as I know and as far as I can remember,” Esperon told the joint committee probe carried out by the Committee on National Defense and the Special Committee on the West Philippine Sea.

Esperon, who was the NSA during the Duterte administration, noted that instead of a supposed secret agreement, an “open discussion” took place between the two state leaders.

He, however, cautioned that because of the differences in the language used by both parties, there may be a “wrong interpretation in hearing what was the translations”.

“But in essence, what the President [Duterte] said was, 'Mr. President [Xi] I want to inform you again and make you aware that we have the arbitral ruling, I have it with me,'” said Esperon.

“And then he proceeded on to say that, 'We want to take advantage and explore and exploit what is in our sovereign rights in so far as the EEZ (exclusive economic zone) is concerned,” he added, futher quoting Duterte.

“And so they went to talk about fishing rights in Bajo de Masinloc as well as the exploration and the exploitation of resources under the sea——the sea bed——more specifically on oil or natural gas,” he continued.

In 2016, an international arbitral tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines, thereby invalidating China's expansive nine-dash line claim.

After Duterte put forward the arbitral ruling , China’s Xi warned that “there will be trouble” if he insisits on them.

“After some long discussion, the President [Duterte] said, ‘Well Mr. President [Xi] I will not go further right now, I will put back the arbitral ruling which I have presented to you anyway. But in the coming years or in the coming visits or encounters with you, I will present it again,” the former NSA recalled.

“And so, the bilaterals ended up in the tune where there was an understanding that our President [Duterte] has presented the result of the arbitral ruling and it was, again, as we all know that China did not recognize the arbitral ruling. So, that was it,” he added.

Despite losing the arbitral case, China continues to commit aggressive acts against the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and local fisherfolks in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).