Oil development agreement recognizes Philippine sovereign rights, says Carpio

Oil development agreement recognizes Philippine sovereign rights, says Carpio

MANILA, Philippines – Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio said Friday that China could recognize the sovereign rights of the Philippines over the disputed waters of the South China Sea, referred to in the recent Memorandum of Understanding between the Philippines and China on cooperation in oil and gas development the service procurement agreements provided for in the MOU.

Answering a question on the vague nature of the memorandum of understanding signed by Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin Jr. and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during Chinese President Xi Jinping's official visit last week , he took note of this part of the memorandum of understanding:

"China authorizes the China National Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to be the Chinese company of each working group, and the Philippines will allow the company or companies that have a service contract with the Philippines to deal with the area." applicable work or, where there is no such company for a particular work area, the Philippine National Oil Company – Exploration Corporation (PNOC-EC) as a Philippine company (s) (s) of the working group concerned. "

China as a service provider

"The Philippines therefore recognize the service markets.According to the Memorandum of Understanding, there is cooperation between the Philippines and China on oil and gas activities by l & # 39; 39; intermediary service providers, "Carpio said at a forum on" Maritime Disputes in the Country ". South China Sea "Sailing in Diplomatic Waters", organized by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Rizalino S. Navarro Competitiveness Research Center in Diamond Residences in Makati.

"China is therefore acting as a subcontractor for our service provider or taking interests in our services subcontractor, or both, so China will intervene through service providers, which is my interpretation. "he also said.

"I do not disagree with this kind of arrangement because if China goes through subcontractors, these service contracts expressly recognize that the area is under the sovereignty or sovereign rights of the Philippines", added Mr. Carpio.

Sovereignty is the supreme power of a state to command and impose obedience to a particular territory. The sovereign rights provided by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) give the coastal State the exclusive right to explore and exploit oil, gas and other mineral resources within its zone. exclusive economic

The Acting Chief Judge, who served as adviser to the Philippine legal team at the hearing of the Philippine case against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration of The Hague, said the cooperation would be done within the Reed Bank, also known as Recto Bank and Liyue. Tan by the Chinese – 83 nautical miles off Palawan "then we have sovereign rights there."

Exploration at Reed Bank began in 2010, when the Energy Forum led by Manuel V. Pangilinan won the service contract 72. However, work was suspended due to the harassment of Chinese vessels at against Forum ships.

Carpio said: "China can enter as a subcontractor or buy shares of Forum energy, or both, which is good because they go through subcontractors."

"Three phases of conflict"

Carpio said he was examining the dispute in the South China Sea with China, which claims nearly 85% of the vast water plan, in three phases.

In the first phase, Carpio said, the Chinese claimed "indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea". After the PCA's decision in favor of the Philippines in 2016, the Chinese expressed their desire to "meet half way".

As part of the memorandum of understanding, Carpio said that we could enter the third phase during which China said: "Agreement, you have sovereign rights but we give half of the revenue . "

"The service contactors are Philippine-licensed contractors, they specifically recognize that the Philippines has sovereign rights.If China gets the job inside the service contractors, we have entered the third phase," Carpio explained when reading the chord protocol.

He is however careful. "Are we really into the third phase? Maybe." He said that he did not really know if that was the way the Chinese understand it.

In addition to the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also claim parts of the South China Sea.

"The wave serves a purpose"

Jay Batongbacal, director of the Institute of Maritime Affairs and the Law of the Sea of ​​the University of the Philippines, said the vagueness of the memorandum of understanding was helpful for something.

"The goal is to delay an untimely resolution, a premature decision on what clearly remains the most contentious obstacles to joint exploration of the region." The document leaves the necessary time to address these issues before moving on to # 39; exploration and development .good thing. "

Visiting Member of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Stanislaw Pawlak, who was one of the judges in the Philippines case to the Supreme Court of Canada, said that "the joint cooperation is a good thing as long as the partners are equal ".

(VERA Files is published by experienced journalists who take a closer look at current issues, Vera is a Latin word "true".)