Senators on Wednesday signaled their support for a possible joint exploration with China in disputed areas bordering the West Philippine Sea as the government continues to search for alternatives to the Malampaya gas field in Palawan.
In separate interviews, the senators also kept the door open to such joint explorations in resource-rich areas well within the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Senators issued their pronouncements even as concern was raised anew over reports that Chinese military transport planes were spotted landing on a China-built facility in the Philippines’s Panganiban Reef.
Asked if senators would back joint exploration with China in the disputed areas, or even within the Philippines EEZ, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto said he would, provided that such arrangement complies with the Philippine Constitution.
“If they could figure out a way to make it constitutional,” Recto replied, citing, for instance, that “Malampaya is joint exploration or joint venture of some sort.”
The Malampaya joint venture is led by global oil giant Shell and has accounted for a sizeable share of the country’s energy requirements.
Sen. Gregorio B. Honasan, who chairs the Senate’s Defense and Security Committee, also affirmed support for similar economic arrangement “to avert war tensions or low-intensity conflict.”
“Yes,” Honasan said in reply to the BusinessMirror’s query. “As long as our foreign economic security policies are clear, we are able to use our bilateral multilateral engagements—Asean, MDT, VFA, Edca—as leverage, it does not violate core principles of our Constitution,” he added referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Mutual Defense Treaty, Visiting Forces Agreement and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
Honasan added: “Also to trade space for time, to buy time for us to put our house in order fix our backyard, reduce the partisan political noise, unite and rally behind the Flag and attend to the real, more serious problems the nation is confronting.”
Sen. Francis N. Pangilinan pointed out, however, this “can only be done via service contracts of the government with foreign private corporations, as allowed/limited by the Constitution, which must still comply with procurement laws.
At the same time, Pangilinan stressed that “proponents must be qualified, undergo transparent process, and decision must be based on clear criteria.”
Sen. Juan Edgardo M. Angara affirmed inclination to support the option “so long as any such agreements for joint exploration will abide by constitutional guidelines and so long as these are mutually beneficial and not one-sided.”
Angara also acknowledged that “cooperation can be a favorable alternative to having these resources lie idle.”
Diplomatic protest
Rep. Gary Alejano of Magdalo and Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate of Bayan Muna on Wednesday urged to file a diplomatic protest against China following its “continued militarization” of the West Philippine Sea.
Alejano and Zarate made separate statements after two Chinese military transport planes have been photographed on Panganiban Reef, marking the first reported presence of this type of aircraft in Philippine territory in the South China Sea (SCS) and raising the prospect that China will base warplanes there.
“The Chinese did not reclaim Mischief Reef for nothing. The construction of a military grade airstrip there is not for display only,” Alejano said. “It is a matter of time before the Chinese deploy their fighter aircrafts in their reclaimed islands as part of their strategic objective of controlling SCS.”
The lawmaker added the Philippines must “continuously and persistently” call out such move that destabilizes the region.
“We should not be deceived by China’s pronouncements that it will not militarize SCS. I am hoping that President Duterte will file a diplomatic protest this time around,” Alejano said.
Zarate said the presence of Chinese military aircrafts in Panganiban Reef is a “clear violation” of the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling.
“This move of China is a clear violation of the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague and is a way of asserting its contempt of the court as well as its dominance in the area,” he added.
“The Duterte administration should be taken to task for not doing anything on this blatant violation of our sovereignty. The Philippine government should not take this sitting down,” he said.
Panganiban Reef—internationally known as Mischief Reef —is located within the Philippines’s 370-kilometer EEZ in the South China Sea. The waters within this zone are known locally as West Philippine Sea.
“Based on media reports, surveillance images taken on January 6, showed two Xian Y-7 military transport planes 20 meters to 50 meters apart on the ramp near Runway 21 on Panganiban, one of seven reefs in the Spratlys that China has transformed into artificial islands with military capabilities,” he said.
“China is obviously flexing its military muscle and endangering the fragile peace in the West Philippine Sea. This is highly condemnable and the Philippines should protest this provocative Chinese action,” Zarate added.
Image credits: Chinatopix via AP