Palace insists joint exploration in West Philippine Sea with China constitutional

Malacañang on Monday maintained that a possible joint exploration with China in the West Philippine Sea is constitutional, disputing the claim of Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio.

Responding to Carpio's view that the 2004 Supreme Court ruling on the legality of the Philippine Mining Act only allows foreign companies to extract minerals on land territory, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the decision sanctions the "exploration and exploitation of mineral resources even in areas subject to complete sovereignty."

"How much more in an area where there is only sovereign rights?" Roque said in a press briefing, referring to areas in the West Philippine Sea that are within the Philippines' 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.
 
"Again, I’d like to reiterate the views of Justice Carpio was the minority view, he voted and submitted a dissenting opinion to the majority opinion in La Bugal, the voting pattern of which was overwhelmingly in favor of allowing foreign corporations to participate in exploration and development of natural resources. 10-4, 10 votes in favor, 4 against. That should be crystal clear," he added.

Roque said countries including Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei have joint exploration agreements that covered EEZs.

"All these joint exploration agreements mean that if ever we enter to a joint exploration and development agreement, it wouldn’t be the first in the world as in fact [China's] CNOOC already has existing joint exploration agreements even with Vietnam and in fact we could look to the Vietnamese, Chinese treaty on joint exploration and development as a model for possible relationship between the Philippines and China," he said.

Vietnam and China are also locked in a maritime dispute in the South China Sea.

The Palace earlier identified Service Contracts 57 and 72 as potential areas for joint exploration by Filipino and Chinese corporations in the resource-rich region.

SC 57 is located west of the Calamian Islands in northwest Palawan while SC 72 is in the disputed Reed Bank.

The Philippines suspended exploration in the Reed Bank in 2014 as it pursued international arbitration of its territorial disputes with China.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague invalidated China’s claim over most of the South China Sea.

The arbitration tribunal's ruling spelled out the Philippines’ sovereign rights to access offshore oil and gas fields, including the Reed Bank, within its 200-nautical mile EEZ.

Beijing has refused to recognize the ruling, which President Rodrigo Duterte set aside in order to forge closer ties with China, the world's second largest economy.

The Palace official said if the joint exploration on the undisputed SC 57 pushes through, the contracting parties would be subject to Philippine law.

"As to 72, the agreement on joint exploration will be governed by international law, because there has to be a treaty to be signed between the Philippines and China first on the joint exploration before it can be implemented by juridical entities of the contracting states," Roque said. —ALG, GMA News