RP to meet deadline on Spratlys claim Palace

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines’ claim on the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) remains strong despite reports that neglect and squabbles among government officials have jeopardized the country’s stake in the potentially resource-rich disputed islands in the South China Sea, Palace officials said yesterday.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita also denied reports that President Arroyo was set to visit the KIG, which is part of the Spratly Group of Islands that is being claimed wholly or in part by five other nations, including China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.

“No, she’s (Mrs. Arroyo) not going (to Spratlys),” Ermita told reporters after briefly conferring with the President during the courtesy call of boxing champ Manny Pacquiao at the Palace.

Earlier in the day, he told reporters that he was not aware of Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon’s statement that the President was visiting the disputed area.

He denied reports that Mrs. Arroyo had neglected prioritizing the country’s claim over the KIG.

Ermita said last December, she ordered the release of P50 million to fund the operations of the Commission on Maritime and Ocean Affairs (CMOA), a Palace body that he chairs and is in charge of meeting the deadline for the filing of the formal claim before the United Nations on May 13, 2009.

He said since its creation last year, the CMOA has been meeting monthly and has tapped the expertise of former justice secretary Estelito Mendoza to help in the drafting of the Philippine claim.

Ermita also said Mrs. Arroyo has ensured steady funding of over a billion pesos for technical and scientific surveys to identify the country’s expanded continental shelf and update the country’s territorial boundaries.

The National Mapping and Resources Information Authority or NAMRIA will undertake the survey, according to Henry Bensulto, secretary general of the CMOA.

“The President has been pushing us on this and this claim is always among the top in her agenda,” Ermita said.

Bensulto expressed optimism that the government would be able to finish its scientific and technical surveys before the 2009 deadline.

He said the survey would form part of the “evidence” that should be included in the formal claim over the KIG.

The Palace has been prodding Congress to speed up passage of a bill updating the country’s borders to include the KIG to boost the country’s claim over the disputed islands.

The bill, however, is stalled over differences between the proposal of the CMOA and the bill passed on second reading in the House of Representatives. 

Part of exploration

A marine seismic survey like the one the country is undertaking with China and Vietnam constitutes the first phase of an actual exploration, experts from the UP Marine Science Institute (UPMSI) said yesterday.

UPMSI gave the opinion in response to Senate President Manuel Villar Jr.’s request for an independent and informed perspective on the ongoing seismic study under the controversial Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) in the disputed Spratly islands.

UPMSI director Maria Lourdes San Diego-McGlone, in a letter to Villar, said that a marine seismic survey is an integral part of hydrocarbon exploration.

McGlone said a marine seismic survey “primarily involves the acquisition of continuous reflection seismic profiles that can allow us to see what is underneath the sea floor to several kilometers deep.”

“Structures and traps that can accumulate hydrocarbon, stratigraphic or structural, can be identified and mapped using the seismic data,” McGlone added.

“The occurrence of hydrocarbon in these traps can be assessed by looking at amplitude, velocity and phase variations of the seismic signal across interfaces in the areas identified as traps,” she said.

In such a process, McGlone said the “potential volume of hydrocarbon in the traps can then be estimated as well.”

Villar said the Senate may use the experts’ opinion in determining if President Arroyo violated the Constitution when she allowed the joint seismic survey with China and Vietnam.

Villar said Article XII Section 2 of the Constitution requires the President to notify Congress of every contract entered into with foreign-owned corporations involving technical or financial assistance for large-scale exploration. Villar asked the opinion of the UPMSI on the issue last March 16.

“I believe the agreement is a highly technical concern requiring an expert opinion using accepted scientific methodology,” Villar said in his letter.

Tourists, visitors safe

At Camp Artemio Ricarte in Palawan, the military said local and foreign tourists are safe amid reports that security forces thwarted an attempt by extremists to sow terror in the province.

Commodore Ruperto Borromeo, commander of the military’s Western Command, said the arrest of seven terror suspects last year upset the terror plot.

“Palawan remains safe secure and progressive,” he said in an interview with reporters who visited the base for the 32nd anniversary of Wescom attended by Esperon yesterday.

Esperon, in his speech, said the Abu Sayyaf had planned to stage attacks last Sept. 11 to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. – With James Mananghaya and Christina Mendez