Cayetano: Any energy exploration deal with China in South China Sea won’t violate PHL, int’l laws

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday assured the public that any planned energy exploration deal with rival claimant China in the South China Sea will comply with the Philippine Constitution and international laws.

Cayetano did not provide details on the location of the possible joint exploration with China, saying it is still a process “under discussion” and that the Department of Energy is the lead agency handling it.

“We will find a legal framework if it’s possible under the Constitution that will allow joint exploration,” Cayetano told a press briefing while hinting that the Philippines and China may also proceed with joint exploration as it is allowed under international law.

Cayetano cited a “precedent” in 2005 wherein the Philippines, China and Vietnam embarked on a controversial joint marine seismic undertaking or JMSU in the South China Sea in 2005.

The agreement, signed by China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Philippine National Oil Company during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2004 covered 142,886 square kilometers of the South China Sea, including areas within Philippine waters. The agreement later on included Vietnam in 2005.

JMSU has met opposition from lawmakers and civil society groups, saying the government’s participation in the JMSU is tantamount to infringement of the Constitution as it allowed foreign nations to exploit the country’s exclusive economic zones in the Spratlys.

Cayetano explained that economic rights of a state within its EEZ under the UNCLOS is “divisible,” meaning “you can give licenses, you can go into joint ventures.”

“Right now, we have not discussed joint development. We’re discussing exploration first because what’s the use of the debate whether or not it is allowed under the Constitution if we don’t know what we can harvest there without damaging the environment, without irreversible damage,” Cayetano said.

“Once there are results we will report it to the Filipino public through the Philippine media. If they find nothing, we will not talk about development. If they find deposits that are commercially viable to have development then we will have to find a framework.”

On Tuesday, officials from the Philippines and China announced after a meeting in Manila that both governments may carry out several joint initiatives in the disputed waters, including oil and gas research.

“Whatever we do will not only be in accordance with the Constitution but also the UNCLOS,” Cayetano said.

UNCLOS is an international treaty signed by 160 states, including the Philippines and China, which allows coastal nations the right to explore, manage and exploit resources within 200 nautical miles from their shores.

The Feb. 13 joint press statement by the Philippines and China following their bilateral consultation meeting said possible cooperative initiatives have been identified by technical working groups from both sides.

Such activities, it added, will be conducted “without prejudice to their respective positions on sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction.”

Any future deal, Cayetano noted, will be beneficial to the Philippines.

“I can tell you that we are pursuing it aggressively because we need it,” he said. “It will serve no one good if we do not explore and eventually develop.”

The Philippine government, he said, is also consulting with international legal experts “who have made deals, who have signed contracts, or legal frameworks in areas that are disputed and in dealing with sovereign rights and UNCLOS.”

Relations between Manila and Beijing have improved under President Rodrigo Duterte, who has sought Chinese trade and economic aid while shelving long-running territorial disputes, including an arbitral tribunal case won by the country.

Previously, Cayetano said the Philippines and China once explored the possibility of joint development in the disputed waters under then-President Corazon Aquino and Deng Xiaoping in 1986, but failed to take off due to the unresolved territorial row.

While waiting for the final decision of an international tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands over the case it filed against Beijing’s South China Sea claims, Manila in 2015 has suspended energy projects in the potentially oil- and gas-rich Reed Bank.

Reed Bank is located 85 nautical miles off the coast of Palawan, but being claimed by China as part of its territory.

The case won by the Philippines in 2016 invalidated China’s massive claim in the waters, including areas that are within the West Philippine Sea. China refused to honor the decision.

Part of the ruling states that Reed Bank is within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone, meaning only the Philippines can exploit the natural resources there. — RSJ, GMA News