Energy exploration with China will not violate Philippine law: Cayetano

February 16, 2018

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday said a planned energy exploration deal with China in the South China Sea will comply with the Philippine Constitution and international laws.

Cayetano did not provide details, saying it is still a process “under discussion” and the Department of Energy is 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.

Cayetano cited a “precedent” in 2005 where 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 covers 142,886 square kilometers of the South China Sea, including areas within Philippine waters. The agreement later included Vietnam in 2005.

JMSU has been opposed by lawmakers and civil society groups, saying the government’s participation is like an infringement of the Constitution as it allowed foreign countries to exploit exclusive economic zones in the Spratlys.

Cayetano explained 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, including oil and gas research.

The Feb. 13 joint statement by the Philippines and China after their bilateral consultation meeting said possible 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 said, 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.” DMS