IT HAS been two weeks now since the Supreme Court (SC) released its decision on the JMSU case declaring the joint exploration venture amongst the Philippines, China and Vietnam in the contested areas of the South China Sea as unconstitutional.
I had thought that it was just difficult to obtain a copy of the decision due to some bureaucratic snafu but it turns out that at this late date the court is yet to release the text of the decision.
I only found out this fact at the media forum sponsored by the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute (ACPSSII), the Association for Philippine-China Understanding (APCU), the Philippine China Mutual Cooperation Society (PCMCS) and Pandesal Forum at the Kamuning Bakery when the main speaker, Atty. Harry Roque informed everyone that there is still indeed no document laying out the arguments of the Supreme Court on the case.
This adds suspicion to what was already a suspicious timing of the media release of the SC decision on the 15-years old case– and from out of the blue– on January 10, 2023, just after President Bongbong Marcos, Jr. returned from his smashing success of a state visit to China.
Among the positive results he brought home was his and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s agreement to resume the PHL-China Oil/Gas Joint Exploration talks started in 2018.
That joint exploration deal is the “bacon” from the state visit as its continuation, eventual signing and fruition would open up fossil fuel wealth five times greater (source: US Geological Survey) than what Saudi Arabia is enjoying since the last century and made that small country one of the wealthiest and most powerful in the world up to this day.
That share touted to be 60 percent in favor of the Philippines would propel the country into an upper-middle income nation status in no time.
The very powerful internal forces in the Philippines trying to stop the PHL-China agreement and signing of the accord to share the resource in order to overcome both side’s domestic laws and legal disputes over claims are: the US-backed Forum Energy-PXP Corp.-Salim Group led by Metro Pacific’s Manny Pangilinan who has manipulated Philippine politicians and government since 2012 to sabotage cooperative relations with China; the CPP-NPA-NPA helped them too, as Satur Ocampo, Teddy Casiño and Neri Colminares filed the SC case questioning the JSMU.
Manny Pangilinan, with US pressure on the late and unlamented President Noynoy Aquino to appoint an American lackey and green card holder Albert Del Rosario, threw the monkey wrench into PHL-China relations to wreck the cooperation mechanism with China.
Duterte saved the day for PHL-China cooperation and in 2018 the MOU on the Oil-Gas Joint Exploration talks was signed. Everyone hoped the day had come the Philippines would have its own oil ang gas resources to replace Malampaya.
Atty. Harry Roque described the SC decision as a grave mistake, applying Philippine law on the EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) which even UNCLOS says is beyond our sovereign jurisdiction.
The EEZ entitles its holder to sovereign rights and not full sovereignty. There is a nuanced difference between the two as ‘sovereign rights” grants only the right to exploit resources within the water, on the sea floor or under the sea floor subsoil; ‘absolute sovereignty’ on the other hand means that we have absolute right and power over its land and territorial sea.
What we now hear from the grapevine is that former Justice Antonio Carpio had been the one behind the scene lobbying the justices of the SC to rush the announcement of the decision in time to cast a pall over the triumphant state visit of President Bongbong Marcos and the bright and shining hope of the resumption of the PHL-China talks on the oil-gas joint exploration venture. On this, Carpio succeeded.
But this is not the end of the story as the fight to complete our joint exploration is gaining momentum.
Atty. Harry Roque has advised the PBBM administration and its Solicitor General Atty. Menardo Guevarra to file a Motion for Reconsideration that he believes would inevitably win since the Philippine Constitution, the UNCLOS and the practical and existential imperative of the Filipino people demand it.
I wrote another article on this which was published internationally entitled “What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object”, and we don’t want that to happen.
We, the Filipino nation, want to win the dispute over the Recto or Reed Bank, SCS, oil and gas resources.
But to win, we need cooperation of the contending parties, compromise and sharing, for us and all the others to win. What the Salim Group wants is take all of it for itself (and not for the people) even as the U.S. wants all talks to fail.