Wednesday, May 07, 2008 JMSU contents can't be released
THE government's secrecy-clouded Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) with China and Vietnam prohibits all the parties to the agreement to disclose its contents within five years after its expiration in June.
This was revealed in the letter of Cebu Representative Antonio Cuenco, chairman of the committee on foreign affairs, to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo last Monday wherein he asked the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to seek the approval of China and Vietnam in making public the contents of the JMSU.
"We take note of a provision in said agreement, which states that: This agreement and all relevant documents, information, data and reports with respect to the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking shall be kept confidential during the agreement term and within five years after its expiration and shall not be disclosed by a party to any other party without any written consent of the rest of the parties," Cuenco said in the letter.
"In view of this proviso, we would like to request our Department of Foreign Affairs to seek the consent and approval of the People's Republic of China and Vietnam regarding the public disclosure of the contents of the JMSU during our House inquiry," he said.
Bayan Muna party-list Representative Satur Ocampo has said while the government warns that disclosure by anyone not party to the agreement would violate the tripartite agreement, the people's right to information remains.
Speaker Prospero Nograles admitted that the House is in quandary on whether they will reveal the JMSU contents because of this confidentiality clause in the controversial agreement.
"I will look at the documents first and study the provisions there so I can legally decide," said 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.
Cuenco said the document also contained annexes detailing the areas covered by the agreement.
The Cuenco panel will lead the investigation into the JMSU with the committees on energy and national defense.
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. (WV/Sunnex)
