The Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking legal guidance from the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) after the Supreme Court (SC) ruled as unconstitutional the agreement on joint marine seismic undertaking (JMSU) in the West Philippine Sea.
This relates to the pact between China National Offshore Oil Corp, Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp. and the Philippine National Oil Co. signed on March 14, 2005
“The DOE will work closely with the OSG and the Department of Justice in determining the next steps to be taken on the matter,” said Energy Undersecretary Alessandro Sales, in a statement.
The SC ruled that the JMSU is unconstitutional as it allowed wholly-owned foreign corporations to participate in the exploration of the country’s natural resources without observing safeguards provided under the 1987 Constitution.
This was promulgated in January this year but was only released in full last Friday.
The constitutionality of the JMSU was assailed on the ground that it violated Section 2, Article 12 of the 1987 Constitution which mandates that the exploration, development and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State.
The SC explained that “exploration” pertains to a search or discovery of something in both its ordinary or technical sense and ruled that the JMSU involves the exploration of the country’s natural resources, particularly petroleum.
According to the Chinese Embassy which issued a statement dated March 15, 2023, yhe parties to the JMSU merely expressed a desire to engage in a joint research of petroleum in the agreement area as a pre-exploration activity.
The joint activities will be conducted in the agreement area of about 143,000 square kilometers “in accordance with the seismic work programs approved by the parties” and will only last for three years.
The signatories also emphasized that they “will not undermine the basic positions held by their respective governments on the South China Sea issue and will contribute to the transformation of the South China Sea into an area of peace, stability, cooperation and development in accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2002 Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.”
