By Ellen T. Tordesillas, VERA Files
Acting Chief Justice Antonio T. Carpio said Friday China could be recognizing the sovereign rights of the Philippines in the disputed waters of the South China Sea covered in the recently-signed Philippines-China Memorandum of Agreement on Cooperation on Oil and Gas Development through service contracting arrangements as provided in the MOU.
Answering a question on the vagueness of the MOU signed by Foreign Secretary Teddy Locsin Jr. and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, he took note of this portion of the MOU: “China authorizes China National Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to be the Chinese enterprise for each Working Group. The Philippines will authorize the enterprise (s) that has/ have entered into a service contract with the Philippines with respect to the applicable working area or, if there is no such enterprise for a particular working area, the Philippine National Oil Company –Exploration Corporation (PNOC-EC) as the Philippine enterprise(s) for the relevant working group.”