Marcos on Duterte’s ‘secret’ deal with China: Maraming palusot

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday slammed the contradicting statements made by the camp of former President Rodrigo Duterte on what he called a “secret agreement” between his predecessor and China.

Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines’ 50th Anniversary Presidential Forum, Marcos said he is “convinced” that there really was an agreement brokered by Duterte with China.

“I think by now we can see in fact that there was a secret agreement and what verifies that and what I think for me, at least convinced me, that there was in fact a secret agreement is the insistence of the Chinese government that there was a secret agreement,” Marcos said.

“I don’t think the Chinese government, I don’t think Beijing will just make up and just out of nowhere say there was a secret agreement when there is no such thing. So, I think, to my mind, that is sufficient to prove to me that there was such an agreement,” he added.

Still, Marcos said there are questions that need to be answered but all he was getting were mere “excuses” from the members of the Duterte administration who could possibly be involved in making the deal.

“These are very simple questions, but I’m finding a deal of difficulty finding answers because I hear one thing, and another thing, and another thing… Maraming palusot, in other words,” Marcos quipped.

Since he already believes that such an agreement exists, Marcos said he wants to see what is contained in the secret agreement and why it was kept a secret.

“Why there is not a shred of evidence that can show that this agreement exists? Why when the transition period between the previous admin to this administration did no one mention a secret agreement. Why was it kept secret?” he went on.

Asked if he sees any legal liability on the part of Duterte, the President said he is not seeing any accountability yet since there is no evidence backing such a deal.

Marcos said he wants to see the facts first before determining any actions.

“I cannot see how there could possibly be any legal liability. There is no evidence of any agreement. Is there a document that was signed? I love to see it,” he said.

“We are so far from getting to the truth… It’s very hard to give a reaction to those questions… What is contained in that secret agreement and why it was kept secret? Those are the two questions left. Once we get the real answers then we will know what to do,” he added.—AOL. GMA Integrated News