Saturday, May 03, 2008 House hesitant in releasing JMSU deal
THE House is in quandary on whether or not to reveal the contents of the Arroyo government's Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) with China and Vietnam because of the confidentiality clause in the controversial agreement.
"I will look at the documents first and study the provisions there so I can legally decide," said Speaker Prospero Nograles, a lawyer, when asked if the content of the agreement can still be made public.
The Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) has already submitted to the House committee on foreign affairs a copy of the JMSU.
Committee chairman Antonio Cuenco said the document also contained annexes containing the areas covered by the agreement.
The Cuenco panel will lead the investigation into the JMSU with the committees on energy of Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo and national defense chaired by La Union Representative Arthur Celeste.
Critics said the JMSU, a gathering of information on the possible oil, gas and other mineral deposits, might have been forged in exchange of bribe-tainted deals like the US$329 million broadband deal and the Cyber-Education project with China.
The agreement, which was signed in 2005, involves the PNOC, the China National Offshore Oil Co. and Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp. (PetroVietnam).
The President's critics said she could be liable for treason for allowing the joint exploration of disputed islands in exchange for soft loans from China worth billions of dollars such as the anomalous national broadband network (NBN) deal with ZTE Corp.
The joint panel will summon Antonio Cailao, president of PNOC, and other officials to shed light on the JMSU.
Aside from the PNOC chief, the Cuenco panel may also subpoena former PNOC president Eduardo Manalac.
Bayan Muna party-list Representative Satur Ocampo said while the government warns that disclosure by anyone not party to the agreement would violate the JMSU, the people's right to information remains.
"We look at this differently -- higher consideration like national sovereignty and territorial integrity require disclosure so the people, through Congress members, may know what affects national interests," he said.
Ocampo has already requested the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for a copy of the document since he is planning to question its constitutionality before the Supreme Court (SC).
He said the DFA referred him to the Office of the Speaker, which replied that his request would just be answered in writing. (WV/Sunnex)
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