60-40 split? Sison slams Duterte admin’s ‘traitorous, cowardly’ West PHL Sea policy

Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison on Wednesday decried the Duterte administration's West Philippine Sea policy as "traitorous and cowardly," and urged Filipinos to be "alert" to the proposed 60-40 joint exploration of the natural resources in the disputed territories between the Philippines and China.

In a statement, Sison also said that the terms of the deal "must be made known immediately to the public."

"What is exactly the 60 percent for the Philippines and 40 percent for China? Do these percentages pertain to ownership, costs of exploration and development and/or production sharing with the Chinese oil exploration and development company deciding what is true or fictional values of production?" Sison said.

On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano disclosed that China has expressed its openness to engage in the 60-40 joint exploration, adding that Filipino and Chinese officials have been creating a framework agreement for the proposed deal.

Sison pointed out that "China never shared fully with the Philippines the essential findings and technical data" from a controversial joint marine seismic undertaking or JMSU in the South China Sea in 2005.

"Then it became more aggressive in claiming the West Philippine Sea and building artificial islands," Sison said.

"The reason why China became interested in building artificial islands as military bases in the Spratlys is not because the Aquino regime filed the Philippine case before the ITLOS in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea but because the Arroyo regime made the stupid and grave error of entering into a joint agreement on seismic undertaking with China to explore the oil and gas resources under the West Philippine Sea," Sison added.

Sison expressed concern that the Philippine government was about to enter into another joint agreement with China, without asserting the Philippines' sovereign rights over the contested region.

Sison also slammed the government anew for repeating that the only other option for the Philippines would be to go to war against the Asian superpower to defend its claims in the West Philippine Sea.

"If they were not so stupid and cowardly, they can make telling and far-reaching diplomatic protests and can file several court cases under international law to demand respect for the already won legal victory of the Philippines and for compensation for the damages to the marine environment features that belong to the Philippines," Sison said.

In 2016, the Philippines won an arbitration case filed by the Aquino administration invalidating China's nine-dash line claim over South China Sea.

Beijing has refused to recognize the ruling.

Ties between the two countries warmed under President Rodrigo Duterte, who has said that China will be a great partner in the government's infrastructure and economic problems.

There have been reports that China has continued to militarize some areas in the contested region.

Duterte has said the Philippines could not afford to go to war with China over the disputed territories, saying it would probably result in great destruction and losses on the part of the military. — Anna Felicia Bajo/BM, GMA News