MALACAÑANG reiterated Monday, November 26, that the joint exploration deal with China would be beneficial to the Philippines and the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last week "does not create rights or obligations that may delineate our territory or sovereign rights."
"As we have repeatedly said, the signed MOU on cooperation on oil and gas development is only an agreement to agree on certain things...The MOU does not create rights or obligations under international or domestic law which may delineate our territory or sovereign rights," said Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo.
Panelo's statement came as the Palace chided Vice President Leni Robredo and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales for making "baseless and unfair" remarks on the joint deal.
Robredo, on November 21, called on the Duterte administration to be "transparent" regarding the bilateral agreements it signed with China during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Manila last November 20.
She said the government should inform the public about the "benefit" the country will gain from the joint exploration deal.
Morales, on the other hand, warned against "treason" within the government. At a forum on protecting the Philippines's sovereign rights in the disputed South China Sea, she was quoted as saying: "A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within."
But Panelo said Robredo and Morales have based their "misplaced observations and apprehensions" on the two nations' joint exploration arrangement "merely on media reports."
He said the two may have "not studied nor even read" the MOU on cooperation on oil and gas development before sharing their respective views.
"The remarks of Vice President Leni Robredo and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales are not only premature but baseless and unfair as well. They anchor their comments merely on media reports, and not on the actual document itself," he said in a statement released Monday night, November 26.
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"Sadly, disappointment comes to mind as expectations for their being trained in the law have not been reached. Legal minds are not only analytically exacting but judicious as well," he added.
Panelo reassured that the signed agreement merely serves a framework for a "future agreement based on mutual respect on each other’s sovereignty and interest."
"The apprehensions of Mmes. Robredo and Carpio-Morales are thus more imaginary than real," he added.
The Philippines and China have signed 29 deals on November 21, including the MOU that intends to bolster the two countries' cooperation on exploring and exploiting oil and gas resources. (SunStar Philippines)