Senators to vote on committee to handle JMSU investigation

MANILA, Philippines – Senators may have to vote on which committee should investigate the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) among the Philippines, China, and Vietnam when Congress resumes session on April 21.

Some lawmakers said that this should be prioritized by the Senate along with the passage of the bill that would redefine the country’s territory under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, chairman of the committee on rules, called for a hearing yesterday to deliberate on whether the Spratlys issue would be handled by the Senate as a committee of the whole or any of the committees of the Blue Ribbon, foreign relations or national defense.

However, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, chairman of the committees on finance and public services, was able to attend the hearing.

Several resolutions have been filed calling for an investigation of the JMSU, resulting in a conflicting claim on which committee should handle its probe.

Pangilinan said he preferred that the issue be tackled by the Senate as a committee because of the many implications of the agreement, including public accountability, environment, defense, and national security.

“It looks like we will have to vote on this. It will be unfair if the two of us (Enrile and him) will make a decision,” Pangilinan said.

He said the investigation must be pursued because it might also help lawmakers decide on the baselines bill being pushed by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

Pangilinan stressed that the proposed measure defining the country’s archipelagic baselines under UNCLOS must be finished in time for the May 2009 submission deadline set for countries with territorial claims.

“We have to speed up legislation or we will lose our stake over our territorial seas,” he said.

The JMSU was said to have violated the Constitution because it was an exploration of the country’s territory that should be exclusively used by the Philippines.

Aside from constitutional violations, senators also want to see if such agreement weakened the country’s claim over the disputed Spratlys.

“The inclination right now is for the committee of the whole to investigate, but we will still have to decide when the session opens,” Pangilinan said. – Aurea Calica