Carpio: MoU between PH, China may resolve sea row
Credit to Author: NEIL JAYSON SERVALLOS| Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2018 18:43:13 +0000
Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Friday expressed his support for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on oil exploration between the Philippines and China, saying it may finally resolve a stalemate in the disputed South China Sea (West Philippine Sea).
Carpio said the MoU signed by President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the latter’s state visit in November was laudable as it was the Philippine draft, not China’s, that was adopted.
“The Philippine draft, which was the one signed, calls for cooperation in oil and gas activities, through the vehicle of Philippine service contracts,” he told a conference in Makati City.
Carpio, who has been urging the government to protest China’s continued activities in the contested sea, said the country’s interests were “well-protected” and that the Philippines has nothing to lose as long as it takes control of economic activities there.
“Joint explorations and exploitations will violate the Philippine Constitution if the Philippine state [gives up or loses] control and supervision in the exploration and exploitation of natural resources,” he added.
Carpio said this might be the “solution” to the impasse between the two countries over the disputed waters, explaining that there were no violations or waiver of Philippine sovereign rights and the Constitution.
The MoU, which was only made public two weeks ago, states that both countries shall create an “Inter-Governmental Joint Steering Committee” and inter-entrepreneurial working groups to be composed of government officials, relevant agencies and individuals from both countries.
“In accordance with the principles of mutual respect, fairness and mutual benefit, flexibility and pragmatism and consensus, through equal and friendly consultation, the two governments have decided to negotiate on accelerated basis arrangements to facilitate oil and gas exploration and exploitation in relevant maritime areas consistent with applicable rules of international law,” it read.
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague invalidated China’s claim to territories in the entire South China Sea, which include strips of the disputed waters, favoring the Philippines’ claim instead.
China has refused to recognize the ruling, prompting President Rodrigo Duterte to set it aside, and engage Beijing in bilateral talks.
Carpio said freedom of navigation and overflight in the West Philippine Sea already enforced a core part of the 2016 arbitral ruling and under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or Unclos.
“Today, the global powers of the world, the US, UK, France, Japan, Australia, India and Canada, are sailing and flying in the high seas and exclusive economic zones of the South China Sea, because the high seas and exclusive economic zones, in these zones there is freedom of navigation and overflight under international law,” he added.
While the country should welcome this freedom, Carpio said the Philippines should not expect help from foreign naval powers as it was on its own in ensuring its exclusive right to natural resources in its exclusive economic zone.
He added that he was sure that within a year, a working committee would be able to hammer out an agreement.
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