MANILA — Former president Rodrigo Duterte did not make any commitment to remove the Philippines' BRP Sierra Madre garrison from the Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal in the West Philippine Sea, a former top official of his Cabinet said Tuesday.

Salvador Medialdea, Duterte's former executive secretary, told ABS-CBN News that Duterte never made such a promise, even as he sought warmer ties with Beijing and Chinese President Xi Jinping during his administration.

"The former president would never do that. He never did it, because he knows that is a symbol of our sovereignty," Medialdea said in a phone interview, clarifying that Duterte did not make such commitments even as a joke.

Medialdea was reacting to accusations from Duterte's critics, particularly from the progressive Makabayan bloc, that the former president had made a deal with Beijing to remove BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated World War II-era battleship that has served as Manila's outpost in the Ayungin Shoal since it was deliberately grounded there in 1999.

• Why is a rusty Philippine warship involved in the South China Sea dispute?

But while he clarified that he had not talked to Duterte about the accusation, he said that the former chief executive never made such commitments "as far as my memory is concerned."

"He never made any commitment whatsoever. That's all there is," he said.

Following a confrontation between Chinese and Philippine Coast Guard vessels on Aug. 5, Beijing claimed that Manila had committed to remove BRP Sierra Madre from the shoal, which sits well within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had both denied making such deal.

• Arroyo denies deal with China to remove BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin
• Marcos: No agreement with China to remove ship from Ayungin

Duterte, who served as president from 2016 to 2022, was known for his foreign policy of distancing from the United States, the Philippines' longtime ally, and seeking more cordial relations with China and Russia instead.

Even with the Permanent Court of Arbitration handing down its decision favoring Manila's claims in the West Philippine Sea less than a month into his term, Duterte had said in 2021 that the ruling was a piece of paper that led to nothing.

"Nag-file sila ng kaso, nanalo tayo. ‘Yang papel sa totoong buhay between nation, ‘yang papel ‘yan, wala ‘yan. Kung sino iyong tigas, United States, Britain ‘pag ginusto nila—" he said in a taped speech, without finishing his sentence.

(They filed a case, we won. That paper in real life between nations, that paper, it is nothing. Whoever is hard like the Unites States, Britain, if they want-)

• Duterte calls Philippine arbitral victory vs China a piece of 'paper' that led to nothing

Last July, Duterte met with Xi in Beijing, where they reportedly discussed promoting "friendly cooperation" between the Philippines and China.

"President Xi said he appreciates the strategic choice Mr. Duterte made to improve relations with China during his presidency and his important contributions to friendly exchanges between the two countries," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said of the meeting.

• Duterte calls Philippine arbitral victory vs China a piece of 'paper' that led to nothing

—with a report from Sherrie Ann Torres, ABS-CBN News

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