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On the Spratlys issue, Jose de Venecia Jr. is with Mrs. Gloria
Arroyo, whom he had urged to resign as President and whose relatives
have been linked to the moves that had him ousted as House Speaker.
Admitting to being the “brains” behind the
Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking among the Philippines, China, and
Vietnam in 2005, de Venecia on Monday said President Arroyo cannot
possibly be accused of “treason” when she supposedly caused a
high Energy official to sign the agreement.
His stand, he added, shows that he is past his
feud with the President that even saw him calling on her to resign
over alleged corruption. On the matter of the controversial
agreement for oil exploration on the Spratly Islands, de Venecia
said, “I will defend her.”
Besides, he added, the government did not
violate any laws or the Constitution in having the Philippine
National Oil Co. sign the agreement.
De Venecia said the agreement was approved by
then-Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita, then-Justice Secretary
Merceditas Gutierrez, then-Executive Secretary now Foreign Affairs
Secretary Alberto Romulo, and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia
Albert.
The former House Speaker told a radio interview
that he thought of the agreement to avoid war with China and Vietnam
over the islands. The two countries, the Philippines, Indonesia,
Malaysia and Taiwan claim the Spratlys as part of their territories.
De Venecia cited the “smallness” of the Philippines’ Air Force
and Navy compared to those of China and Vietnam. He mentioned that
Vietnam won wars of independence against France and the United
States.
He said the agreement will help reduce the
Philippines’ dependence on oil from the Middle East.
Like Mrs. Arroyo, Parañaque City Rep. Roilo
Golez said, the former Speaker cannot be held liable even if proved
that he was a principal negotiator of the joint seismic undertaking.
Former Philippine National Oil Co. president
Eduardo Mañalac can, Golez hinted, for signing the agreement.
Mañalac press con
Mañalac also on Monday said the joint agreement
was “aboveboard and technically sound” and would not affect the
country’s claim to the disputed Spratlys. A co-signatory to the
agreement among the Philippine National Oil Co., China National
Offshore Oil Co., and Petro Vietnam, he added that the agreement was
also “thoroughly investigated as to its legality and approved
unconditionally by the governments of the three countries
involved.”
Mañalac told a press conference in Pasig City
that his knowledge of the agreement was limited to the planning and
execution of the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking.
He said he had sought advice regarding the
legality of the seismic study with other government agencies
including the Energy, Foreign Affairs and Justice departments, which
all approved of the study.
“The fact lay in the approval,” Mañalac
added.
On the claim that the areas to be covered by the
seismic study would overlap that of the country’s 200-mile
Exclusive Economic Zone, he said those areas are still being
disputed. Mañalac added that it is still not clear where such zone
begins.
“We need to consult legal luminaries and
maritime experts regarding that issue because there are so many
legal issues, like the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Seas,” he said.
The agreement covers some 142,886 square
kilometers, including some 24,000 square kilometers of undisputed
Philippine territory that fall outside areas in the Spratlys that
are contested either in whole or in part by the seven
claimant-countries. That territory swallows almost 80 percent of the
Kalayaan Islands, which are also being claimed by the Philippines.
Mañalac said the joint agreement would not
infringe on the country’s sovereignty.
“This [agreement] is just for the seismic
study, not to conduct exploration activities in the area,” he
said. “This is just part of a sincere effort on the part of three
governments to find common ground for cooperation involving the
South China Sea area.”
Mañalac added that the seismic undertaking is
just a cooperative research study that gathers and interprets
seismic data. After the data are gathered and interpreted, he said,
the Philippines, China, and Vietnam would have to sign a new
agreement.
“That is the agreement which must be
constitutional, legal. Because when we will drill for oil, how will
we share and divide it, who will pay taxes?” Mañalac asked. He
said the agreement does not take up the conflicting territorial
claims of the Philippines, China, and Vietnam.
After the initial agreement was signed, Mañalac
said each country had 90 days to get the agreement cleared legally
and approved by its government.
“I am able to tell you the story behind this
agreement because I negotiated this agreement. But I got direction
on the legalities from the government,” he added.
Cooperation, not conflict
Mañalac called the seismic study as a
“confidence-building measure” that could lead to a major oil or
gas find in the disputed areas in the South China Sea.
He said it was better for the three countries to
share in the oil or gas finds than to just let these energy
resources stay untapped.
Mañalac said the Philippines does not have the
millions of dollars needed for oil exploration.
If oil or gas is found, he said, the Philippine
government only has to ensure the 60-percent government share in
royalties from the income of the project.
Mañalac pointed out that Philippine law allows
100-percent foreign ownership in oil exploration, but it must be 60
percent to 40 percent sharing in favor of the government in the
royalties.
He said it would be good if the study is taken
to its next step—drilling for oil or gas—since the money
invested in the seismic survey will be put to waste if the project
is not pursued.
In this next stage, the Philippines would have
to come up with a production-sharing service contract. China and
Vietnam each have their own laws to follow in the next stage of the
project.
Mañalac said the initial results of the seismic
survey were “very encouraging” and showed “potential
prospects” for oil or gas drilling.
He acknowledged that the public disclosure of a
map from the seismic study would help determine if the agreement
violated the Philippine Constitution or any laws.
The Philippine National Oil Co. has refused to
release the map, citing a confidentiality agreement among the three
countries.
Govt walks away
The supposedly political noise arising from the
controversial agreement could see the scrapping of the
government’s pre-exploration activities for oil and gas in the
Spratlys, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol said.
“We are abandoning Phase 2 because of this
political noise. But Phase 2 is the same as Phase 1, it is
constitutional. There is no violation of the constitutional
provision. It is clear that nobody is waiving their right of claim
over the area,” Apostol also told a radio interview.
Phase 2 was supposed to have begun in October
2007, but it was reportedly put on hold owing to legal issues and
scandals involving Chinese-funded projects.
The agreement is scheduled to lapse on June 30,
but with its second phase unimplemented and unlikely to be
continued, the pact would be effectively scrapped.
Senate resolution
Apparently seeking to decisively answer all
questions on the bounds of Philippine territory, Sen. Miriam
Defensor-Santiago also on Monday filed a joint resolution seeking to
create a congressional commission on national territory.
Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Richard Gordon
agreed that defining the archipelagic baselines of the Philippines
is an issue basic to the resolution of all problems on national
territory.
Santiago, chairman of the Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations, said the Philippine ratification of the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas had given rise to
confusion in the identification of the boundaries of the
Philippines.
Under the UN convention, the national territory
of an archipelago includes the 200-mile exclusive economic zone
measured from its outermost island. Such zone has to be identified
by 2009 or else it becomes part of international waters or of a
neighboring archipelago claiming it.
Santiago’s measure came as commentaries
abounded that the controversy on the joint exploration at the South
China Sea among the Philippines, China and Vietnam could have been
avoided had there been a law defining the Philippine baselines. A
joint resolution has the force and effect of a law if adopted by
both the House and the Senate.
There were charges that with the joint
exploration, the Philippines had weakened its claim to parts of the
Spratly Islands and that President Arroyo had committed treason in
allowing joint exploration within Philippine territory reportedly in
exchange for $8 billion in official development assistance from
China.
-- Jomar Canlas, James Konstantin Galvez, Euan Paulo C. Anonuevo,
Ruben Manahan 4th, Sammy Martin, Angelo S. Samonte and Efren L.
Danao
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