Stirrings over Spratlys

YET to completely extricate itself from the scandal over the scrapped national broadband network deal, the Arroyo government is again entangled in another brewing controversy concerning two agreements the country entered into with China and Vietnam to undertake seismic studies of the Spratly Islands.

Certain areas of the disputed territories in the South China Sea have been the subject of joint marine seismic undertaking (JMSU) agreements — the first signed between the Philippines and China on September 1, 2004 and the second signed between the two countries and Vietnam on March 14, 2005 — to conduct research on their petroleum resource potential as a pre-exploration activity.

The undertaking covers an area of 142,886 square kilometers (as defined in Annex A of the agreement) for a three-year period. Signatories to the said agreements were the countries’ state-owned oil companies, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), and Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam). Vietnam entered the picture after it aired its concern about the earlier pact between China and the Philippines that, based on a recent Far Eastern Economic Review story, was concluded without consultation, and is also against the spirit of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties signed between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China.

Read the pertinent documents (courtesy of ellentordesillas.com):

• RP-China Agreement for Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking in Certain Areas in the South China Sea
• RP-China-Vietnam Tripartite Agreement for Joint Marine Scientific Research in Certain Areas in the South China Sea
• Annex A

Critics have raised the issue of treason against the Arroyo government for the alleged “sellout” of Philippine territory. The allegations are bolstered by a Malaya report today pointing out that the agreements cover 24,000 square kilometers of undisputed Philippine territory including the islands of Patag (Flat), Lawak (Nanshan), Parola (Northeast Cay), Panata (Lankiam Cay), Kota (Loaita), and Likas (West York) based on the coordinates provided in the annex.

The area covered by the agreements, the report added, also encroaches on some 80 percent of the Kalayaan group of islands being claimed by the Philippines, including Spratly Island, just 700 kilometers off Palawan.

The Spratlys are a group of islands consisting of more than 100 small groups of islands, isles, shoals, banks, atolls, cays, coral reefs and sandbars. The Spratly archipelago, including shallow territorial waters, cover an area of approximately 180,000 square kilometers.

There are claims that the oil and gas potential of South China Sea, including the Spratlys region, is huge. Aside from these natural resources, the Spratlys are also known to be rich fishing grounds. Their strategic importance cannot also be denied as the islands straddle commercially important sea lanes and serve as legal base points from which to project claims of exclusive jurisdiction over waters and resources in the South China Sea.

China, Taiwan, and Vietnam claim the entire Spratly Islands, while Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines claim portions of the disputed area in the South China Sea. Except for Brunei, all the claimants are currently occupying islands or reefs.

Under the tripartite agreement, China, the Philippines, and Vietnam have agreed to temporarily set aside their territorial disputes over the Spratlys so as to transform the South China Sea into an area of cooperation, peace and development.

Allegations that the signing of the said seismic undertaking agreements were made in exchange for official development assistance from China to fund government projects concerning the NBN, cyber education, and railway rehabilitation (North and South Rail) have also surfaced.

But government officials defended the JMSU as being “above board.” The pre-exploration activities, they said, do not violate the Constitution since these do not impinge on Philippine sovereignty and its territorial integrity.

At a press conference this afternoon, Eduardo Mañalac, the former PNOC president and CEO who signed the agreements on behalf of the Philippine government, said that all actions taken under his watch were “above board, technically sound, thoroughly investigated as to its legality, and approved unconditionally by the governments of the three countries involved.”

Mañalac said the JMSU was explicit about not undermining the claims of the three countries on the Spratlys. His experiences before, during, and after the JMSU signing, he added, involved:

• a sincere effort on the part of three governments to find common ground for cooperation involving the South China Sea area;

• a desire to materialize this effort in terms of a concrete scientific study the results of which could be of great value in determining over-all consequences for the region; and

• a common determination to cement the friendships formed by opening further discussions beyond the JMSU.

He, however, said that his personal knowledge of the truth is limited to the agreements’ planning and execution.