MALACAÑANG on Saturday, March 3, maintained that the joint oil and gas exploration in the disputed South China Sea between the Philippines and China is "constitutional."
Presidential Spokerperson Harry Roque Jr. defended the latest move of the Philippine government to undertake the joint exploration in at least two concessions in the contested South China Sea, the Calamian and Recto Bank.
Roque announced Friday, March 2, that Service Contracts (SC) 57 (Calamian) and 72 (Recto Bank) are being considered as areas that can be explored and exploited "by corporations and not by sovereign states."
His latest pronouncement has drawn opposition from maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal, but Roque insisted that there was nothing wrong with the joint exploration in the two areas.
"The joint exploration in the area with no dispute such as [SC] 52, and in the area with this dispute such as [SC] 72, is constitutional," he told reporters in Zamboanga del Norte.
"My recommendation to Professor Batongbacal is to read the decision of the Supreme Court before making an opinion," he added.
The Philippines and China are currently in talks for a possible joint exploration deal in the South China Sea.
Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and the Law of the Sea, slammed Friday the decision of the Philippine government to have a joint exploration with China in Calamian and Recto Bank.
He claimed that Calamian, which is within the Philippines exclusive economic zone, must be "unilaterally" explored by Manila since it is "not a disputed area."
Batongbacal likewise believed that the Philippines' joint with China in the disputed Recto Bank "will undermine [Manila's] position" in the maritime dispute.
"The government appears to be offering all of the Philippines waters to joint exploration with China, not just the West Philippine Sea," he said.
"Unless government leaders get their heads straight and view this issue properly with the right lenses, it will be another case of giving China too much, too soon," he added. (SunStar Philippines)