J. Albert Gamboa l January 13, 2023 l The Manila Times
IN an en banc decision this week, the Supreme Court (SC) voided the agreement for Joint Marine Seismc Undertaking (JMSU) entered into by the Philippines in 2005 with Vietnam and China through their respective state-owned oil firms. The highest court of the land declared the JMSU unconstitutional in violation of the provision that reserves the exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources to Filipino citizens or corporations majority-owned by Filipinos.
Voting almost unanimously, the SC ruled against the tripartite agreement because it allowed wholly-owned foreign corporations to explore the country’s petroleum resources without observing the safeguards provided in Article 12 Section 2 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution titled “National Economy and Patrimony.”
The JMSU covered a 142,866-square-kilometer area in the South China Sea to be explored by the China National Offshore Oil Corp., the Vietnam Oil & Gas Corp., and the Philippine National Oil Co. These three firms argued that the JMSU only involves pre-exploration activities, although 80 percent of the area coverage lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
But the high court noted that “such designation does not detract from the fact that the intent and aim of the agreement is to discover petroleum which is tantamount to ‘exploration.'” The landmark ruling will thus have resounding repercussions on those who intend to circumvent the Constitution in the future.
How will that impact on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s statement to Chinese leader Xi Jinping that he wants to continue negotiations on joint oil exploration in the West Philippine Sea (WPS)? According to the Office of the Press Secretary, Marcos said during his state visit to Beijing that continuing the WPS negotiation “is very important to the Philippines.”
Closer to home, there are several land reclamation projects in Manila Bay that would effectively surround the US Embassy along the bayside of Roxas Boulevard with reclaimed land. American diplomats have already raised this issue with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Philippine Reclamation Authority. Many of these reclamation projects are being undertaken by Chinese construction firms, including China Harbor Engineering Co. Ltd. (CHEC) — the second largest dredging company in the world.
According to the South China Morning Post, CHEC “is a subsidiary of infrastructure giant China Communications Construction Corp., which oversaw the transformation of a handful of rocks and reefs in the South China Sea into a chain of Chinese maritime and military outposts.” One can’t blame the US officials for suspecting that CHEC’s dredging vessels in Manila Bay are also being used in espionage.
Another issue pertains to the hiring of Chinese nationals who fully man 16 sea vessels of CHEC in the 360-hectare Pasay Reclamation Project. The Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Marinong Pilipino has filed a complaint with the Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Migrant Workers regarding the blatant disregard for Philippine laws requiring such vessels to employ Filipino seafarers only.
This project is exclusively supplied with sand by Golden Sands Ventures Inc. (GSVI), a consortium that includes Halrey Construction Inc., owned by the in-laws of former Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez. GSVI reportedly obtains its sand supply for the reclamation project from the Bucao River in Zambales, although it does not have a quarrying permit from DENR. The lack of such a permit violates the Mining Act of 1995 and the DENR’s 2019 administrative order rationalizing the dredging activities in the heavily-silted rivers of Zambales.
How these issues are going to be resolved will be a litmus test of the government’s sincerity in carrying out its vow to protect our country’s sovereignty. All eyes are on the executive branch if it can match the courage of the judiciary in upholding the Philippine Constitution as seen in the most recent SC decision that preserves the store of wealth of our national economy.
*** The author is the chief finance officer of Asian Center for Legal Excellence and vice-chair of the FINEX Ethics Committee. The opinion expressed herein does not necessarily reflect the views of these institutions and The Manila Times. #FinexPhils www.finex.org.ph