MALACAÑANG on Thursday gave an assurance that the Philippines’ joint exploration on oil and gas deposits in disputed South China Sea would be in accordance with the 1987 Constitution.
“Any venture the Philippines enters into is and will be compliant with the Constitution and local laws,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement.
“We will not give up an inch of our territory, and that any deal should have better terms favoring the Philippines,” he added.
Abella made the remark after President Rodrigo Duterte announced Monday that the Philippines entered into a joint venture agreement with China in extracting all mineral and gas resources in the contested waters.
On the sidelines of his second State of the Nation Address on July 24, the President said the emissaries of the two countries are now negotiating to come up with a target date of joint exploration.
“There is no [timeline] yet but we are into it already. We are there already. We already have a partner but I don’t know who. Our emissaries, as well as theirs, are already there. They are talking and they are exploring,” Duterte said.
“When they start to excavate the gas and all, I tell you, it’s going to be just like a joint venture. So it will be fair,” he added.
The Philippines has maintained a “non-adversarial” approach in addressing the spat on resource-rich South China Sea with China, even after the international court ruled that in favor of the Philippine government.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands released its decision on July 12, 2016, saying that China has no basis to lay claim to most parts of the disputed waters.
Despite the arbitral ruling, the Chief Executive has said the Philippines is not yet ready to invoke it because China has warned of declaring war if he raises the territorial row. (SunStar Philippines)