Update:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110616/ap_on_re_as/as_china_south_china_sea
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/15750/china-to-boost-maritime-patrols-as-disputes-mount
PH also deployed largest patrol ship to Spratlys area on a ‘routine patrol’ -ABS-CBN
In the midst of rising tension between the Philippines and China over the former’s series of armed intrusions on West Philippine Sea the past five months, he urged President Aquino Wednesday to revive, the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking.
The brainchild of De Venecia, the JMSU which was signed in March 2005, opened the exploration of large portion of West Philippine Sea jointly with initially China and later on, with Vietnam. The first phase which ended in 2007 was to find out the amount of oil and other mineral resources in that area. The second phase didn’t push through because of questions of the constitutionality of the tripartite agreement.
The Philippine Constitution provides that”The exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State.”
To make his proposal for the revival of the JMSU more palatable, De Venecia said the agreement may be modified to exclude Reed Bank /Recto Bank from the coverage of the agreement.
In this first place, why did he include Reed Bank, which is only 85 nautical miles from Palawan, in the JMSU. That is Philippine territory and is not part of the disputed areas in the Spratlys.
Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez,formerly a Philippine Navy officer and had been closely following the issue on the South China Sea said he is against the revival of the JMSU “because it is disadvantageous to the Philippines.”
Golez said, “Most of the JMSU area (more than 75%) is located within our Exclusive Economic Zone. Per UNCLOS, the Philippines has sovereign rights over the exploitation of natural resources within the EEZ, including marine scientific research. “(Click on JMSU map to view it enlarged.Blue line is PH EEZ line while the red line is the JMSU area)
“The JMSU as signed pertains mostly to Philippine EEZ and not the EEZ of the two other signatory countries: China and Vietnam. What is potentially being partitioned for joint development is our EEZ and not the two other signatories’ EEZ. Any JMSU should cover the entire West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) to be equitable to the Philippines,” he said.
Gloria Arroyo, now representing the second district of Pampanga in Congress, added her voice to the noise saying “talks and rhetorics won’t solve the Spratlys issue.”
Now that Arroyo and De Venecia are talking about the Spratlys, they should be compelled to account to the Filipino why they compromised Philippine sovereignty over a large portion of the country’s undisputed territory.
On March 10, 2008, I wrote a column titled, “A stinking deal” referring to the JMSU. Here’s a portion of the column relevant to the burning issue today:
How important is the JMSU (Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking) in the Spratly islands to China can be seen by how the Asia-Pacific superpower broke its traditional practice of spacing state visits to accommodate Gloria Arroyo in September 2004.
Diplomatic sources said the September 2004 visit to China was a “JDV initiative”. The occasion was “The Third International Conference of Asian Political Parties.”
On the sidelines, but a very important sideline, was the signing of a number of projects including the $400 million North rail project that will connect Manila to Clark and the JMSU.
The source said DFA was feeling uncomfortable being left out in many of the pre-visit talks, particularly the ones related to the JMSU.
They advised Arroyo that the ICAPP was too minor an event for her to go to China. ‘It should be a state visit,’ they said thinking that it would not be possible that year because the Malaysian head of state had just made a state visit. Usually a host country limits the number of state visits in a year.
Arroyo told JDV about DFA’s recommendation. Much to the surprise of the DFA people, JDV was able get an invitation from the Chinese government for Arroyo to make a state visit.
The source said he had the sense that the Northrail project and the JMSU were tied. So when they brought up the problem that the agreement is in violation of the constitutional prohibition of foreigners undertaking exploration of the country’s natural resources, as expressed by then Acting Secretary Merceditas Gutierrez, JDV snapped at them.
But JDV’s group did something about Gutierrez concern because the word’exploration’ disappeared from the document and the agreement became for a ‘joint marines seismic undertaking’. Very smart.
A DFA official, who asked not to be named, said the government may be able to get away with the JMSU because it can be argued that no exploration has taken place but if the survey’s results are positive, that would really be a problem. The Philippines has included some 284,000 square kilometers of undisputed Philippine territory in the agreement area and allowing China and Vietnam to explore the country’s natural resources is clearly a violation of the Constitution.
At least six of the eight islands occupied by the Philippine military in the South China are included in the JMSU.
JDV and Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo wax ecstatic about the JMSU saying ‘it manifests responsible diplomacy to ease tension and promote confidence-building in a region where, as noted in the article, the issue of sovereignty of the Spratly Islands remains a potential ‘flashpoint.’
That applies to the disputed area. But how does the government justify the inclusion of 284,000 square kilometers of Philippine territory that are not disputed?
In the agreement, “All the data and information acquired for he fulfillment of the Seismic work…and their interpretation shall be jointly owned by the Parties. In the event any Party wishes to sell or disclose the above-mentioned data and information after the expiration of the confidentiality term, prior written consent therefore shall be obtained from the other Party.”
China and Vietnam become co-owners of data and information gathered from our own territory! This is not simply a commercial transaction as played down by Malacañang. These are matters involving patrimony and sovereignty. Of exercising supreme dominion over what have been handed to us by our forefathers.
Retired Commodore Rex Robles is being diplomatic when he said, “It has the flavor of treason.” It stinks.
Both of them should be banished to China…
The China connection is getting curiouser and curiouser..
No. Charge them with treason!
Tanggalan na nga ng tenga si JoeDV! Ang gulo-gulo nya!
Treason! Hang Gloria and JDV!
Chi, itapon nalang sila sa dagat kagaya nung ginawa ng mga kano kay Osama. 😛
Sa Spratly mismo, yung kakainin sila ng pating, Mike! 🙂
Bayan Muna Re. Teddy Casiño objected to proposals to revive the Joint Military Seismic Undertaking Agreement (JMSU) between China, Vietnam and the Philippines now pending before the Supreme Court. Bayan Muna initiated the petition for certiorari against the said agreement in 2008.
“The problem with the JMSU is that the area being explored is within our territorial waters and not in the disputed areas. Talo tayo if this will be revived,” he stressed.
Casiño noted that “by entering into the JMSU, the government “sold out” the country’s potential petroleum resource within the agreement area, the country’s “clear and undisputed” territories, archipelagic waters, territorial sea, and exclusive economic zone.
Click here for the full statement: http://makabayan.net/node/103
Chi naman, ano kala mo sa mga pating? Walang taste? Hehehe 😛
I wonder what JDV3’s gonna say about this if asked??? An anti-corruption advocate (???) should speak up no matter who gets hurt. Even his own dad.
Charge them with treason tapos sila ang gawing bantay dun sa mga isla na iyon. Isama si Sabit Singson at mga Amptuan at iba pang nagsisigasigaan.
Dalhin sila sa punto na kapag bumalimbing sila sa China, ipagulpi sila sa taumbayan. Pag hindi sila pumayag na magbantay sa mga isla, barilin na sila right away.
Point of no return baga!
Full statement of Rep. Roilo Golez:
On the JMSU
I am against the revival of the Tripartite Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking because it is disadvantageous to the Philippines. Most of the JMSU area ( more than 75%) is located within our Exclusive Economic Zone as shown by the attached map (blue line is our EEZ line while the red line is the JMSU area). Per UNCLOS, the Philippines has sovereign rights over the exploitation of natural resources within the EEZ, including marine scientific research.
The JMSU as signed pertains mostly to Philippine EEZ and not the EEZ of the two other signatory countries: China and Vietnam. What is potentially being partitioned for joint development is our EEZ and not the two other signatories’ EEZ. Any JMSU should cover the entire West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) to be equitable to the Philippines.
More from Rep. Roilo Golez:
On keeping our guards up, public diplomacy and a million needless effort
We should always keep our guards up, in spite of the conciliatory tone of the latest China statement on the Spratlys. In the 1995 Mischief Reef conflict, Chinese authorities lulled us with reassuring words that they built temporary structures only for their fishermen. Three-four years after, in 1998-99, we woke up to discover full blown concrete military structures and facilities. In their recent statements, they issued warnings, combined with physical harassment that they own the seas all the way to the Recto (Reed) Bank. And they followed with a friendly, conciliatory message that they wouldn’t use force. If we allow them to lull us again, we might wake up one morning witnessing a flotilla of PLA(N) frigates and DDGs patrolling the Recto Bank within stone’s throw from Palawan’s West shoreline.
Our Public Diplomacy effort should continue, to buttress State Diplomacy. The Filipino public should get into the game using A MILLION NEEDLES to prick China and rouse the world about China’s bully tactics. The public diplomacy, million needles effort can be done through various international fora like ASEAN, UN, UNESCO, IMF, parliaments, civic organizations, international media, etc., through resolutions, statements, column mentions, speeches, with maximum use of emails, Facebook, YouTube, tweets, texting, to reach out to the whole world.
Statement from former Sen. Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel:
“There should be only one government agency that should speak on the Spratlys issue. That’s the Department of Foreign Affairs acting on behalf of the administration.
“While the Armed Forces of the Philippines is expected to put up a brave front and can say that it would do everything within its capability to defend Philippine territory from any form of foreign aggression, it should refrain from making any provocative statements that could antagonize any of the claimants, including China.
“We have generally warm relations with the other claimant-countries, particularly China. Let’s not unnecessarily antagonize them.
The former senator said the AFP should defer to the DFA on political questions, such as the Spratlys issue, and leave it to the DFA to explain the Philippine government position on any aspect of the issue.
“It doesn’t help our claim over the contested islets if statements coming from the AFP or any other government entity would only stir up heated rhetoric instead of calm reason.
“The Spratlys is a very complicated issue that has political, economic and security implications. We should leave it to the DFA to explain to media and to the international community our official stand on this issue.”
It is mind-boggling why JDV, whose main business interest is in petroleum exploration, to grandfather a move to sellout oil-producing patrimony, ergo, his area of operation, to foreigners.
Is this a ploy to hide actual income from the state – money that he generates from his oil wells – and a cover for tax-evasion?
If I were making good money out of black gold, I would quietly do it and not invite three countries to compete with me. There is something sinister in this.
I suspect the JMSU is simply a cover to allow Gloria’s cronies and dummies to continue their rapacious marauding activities, free from interference of future Phil Administrations since all plunder of resources were henceforth covered by a thick brickwall of impunity in the guise of a tri-nation agreement.
Look at the characters involved and those who are to gain from it. It is a giveaway clue.
tama lang si Rep.Roilo Golez.wag mag tiwala sa china.iba ang sinasabi nila sa ginagawa nila.dapat lang na maging mas mautak tayo kaysa kanila.
hurry up with this AFP modernization.ang kailangan natin ngayon gun barrel hindi pork barrel ng mga P.I.mag nanakaw na mga politico.
higit sa lahat hatulan ng kamatayan ang sinumang mag traidor sa atin bayan.
The former anti-Macoy activista turned Gloria-JDV partisan wrote an article on the Spratlys dispute, and a seeming reasonable solution from the Pangasinan traitor -the political soulmate of the Infidel.
That article, however, is not supported by the facts. The ocean floor border among Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark was only reapportioned after protracted negotiations and a judgment of the International Court of Justice.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea#Political_status
Lagyan niyo ng h t t p : / / sa harap.
That judgment was rendered in 1969.
icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?p1=3&p2=3&k=cc&case=52&code=cs2&p3=4
Lagyan niyo ng tatlong w sa harap.
The dispositive portion (the actual orders, shorn of the legal analysis) can be found on page 53 (on the paper); your pdf number counter will say page 104. The pages alternate between French and English.
Our own former CJ Cezar Bengzon (sitting as member of the ICJ) joined the dissent, which espoused the theory of equidistance. If we go by the equidistance theory, mas malayo ang magiging borders natin. Imagine the distance between China or Vietnam, measured from Palawan and their borders.
Read the separate opinion of Judge Jessup, which is very informative, with respect to legal principles and the “hidden agenda” of the parties. None of them discussed or even adverted to the potential for oil reserves, although that was already discovered. But Germany slipped, and hinted on the possible location of the reserves as the basis for determining “equitable apportionment”.
The famous Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court
Competition among law schools was named after Judge Jessup.
Ganoon katigas si CJ Bengzon, he rubbed elbows with the international greats. CJ Bengzon himself was one of the greats in Philippine law.
Taga Camiling yan Mr. President. I hope you appoint more of his caliber.
SnV, the philippine government is thinking of bringing the Spratlys issue to the ICJ? Is that sensible?
China is not expected to agree. Can the Philippines do it unilaterally?
It is true that the ICJ has no coercive power. It cannot summon member countries; the member-countries must voluntarily submit to its jurisdiction.
But China is a signatory to the UN Law of the Law of the Sea. In that treaty, all members agreed to submit disputes (after negotiations shall have failed) to the international tribunals for resolution. China, by treaty, bound itself to this provision.
Yang saber-rattling, pang sindak lang yan, because the past DFA Sec proved himself without balls, and the advisers of that woman had no balls either. They hope, maybe even expect the Philippines to cave in. If so, then they win.
Check out the Law of the Sea below
un.org/Depts/los/index.htm
as usual, lagyan ng tatlong w.
It is unlikely that China will refuse to submit the dispute to resolution by an international tribunal, specifically the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. One of the judges of the tribunal is Judge Zhiguo Gao.
It will water down any moral force of opinions of Judge Gao on disputes involving other countries if his native country refuses to recognize the authority (conferred by treaty) of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
Nasaan na ang mga posturing intellectuals? Where is Miriam? She staked this out as her area of expertise didn’t she?
Baka naman tayo ang takot magpunta sa international tribunal. As the editorial in Malaya states, our claim over the Spratlys may not be as strong as China’s or Vietnam’s:
The French claim could be the basis of the Vietnamese claim, because Vietnam was part of French Indochina.
malaya.com.ph/june15/edit.html
Still, I would recommend the submission of the dispute to the international tribunal, if only to put to rest just how far from Palawan is our territory, and corollarily, how near to Palawan are the territorial waters of the other claimants.
Kaya nga noong bumaliktad itong si tengang daga, walang masyadong naniwala sa kanya. He was and still is an opportunist. He milked the corrupt system of the bansot. When the loot dried up, he started to turn against his master, the bansot. Pare parehong mga mandurugas si bansot at ang kanyang mga alipores. Tengang daga is not exempt.
Hanggang ngayon marami pang mga galamay itong si bansot. We will never know how deep the corruption really was during her time until more people will come out to expose all the “deals” she made big money from. But who will expose these? Marami pa ring nasa pwestong mga galamay niya who are protecting her.
Paingit dito, Ellen…natatawa lang kasi ako. 🙂
___
MANILA, Philippines – Prominent figures in politics and business gathered at the Manila Cathedral on Sunday for the renewal of wedding vows of Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and her husband of 40 years, former Interior Undersecretary Narciso “Jun” Santiago.
President Aquino, the best man, and actress Heart Evangelista, the maid of honor, led the powerhouse guest list made up of former presidents, government officials, and business leaders.
__
Noynoy was the best man kaya pala nagkasakit si Gloria bigla! hehehe…
Pasingit…
Kawawang Gloria, hindi na kaya inimbita? 🙂
Gloria Arroyo was there at the Santiagos’ renewal of marriage vow.