‘WPS joint exploration may be unconstitutional’

MANILA, Philippines — As the Duterte administration appears determined to pursue joint development in the West Philippine Sea with China, some lawmakers have warned that such arrangement could have constitutional ramifications.

House constitutional amendments committee chair Cagayan de Oro 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said the agreement is unconstitutional as Beijing refuses to recognize the sovereign rights of the Philippines over the West Philippine Sea.

“We have to insist on China’s recognition of our sovereign rights on the WPS, which is within our 200-mile exclusive economic zone. If China will not recognize it, then the joint exploration deal will be unconstitutional,” he explained to The STAR.

Rodriguez, a former law school dean, warned of possible repercussions should the government forge the deal without getting Beijing to recognize the country’s rights over the West Philippine Sea first – no matter how advantageous and beneficial it would be for the country.

“The government will be waiving our sovereign rights under the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and under the decision of the arbitral tribunal, and will also violate the constitutional provision on our national territory,” he stressed.

Article 1 of the 1987 Constitution defines “national territory” as “Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular shelves and other submarine areas.”

The provision further defines “internal waters” as “waters around, between and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions.”

Another lawmaker, games and amusements committee chair and ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Eric Go Yap, shared the opinion of Rodriguez.

“Before we enter into any agreement with the Chinese government, we have to make sure that we will not surrender our sovereign rights and that the West Philippine Sea will remain ours no matter what joint exploration we enter into,” he told The STAR.

Yap argued that while the proposed 60-40 deal with Beijing sounds favorable to the Philippines, the country’s sovereignty should not be compromised.

“The sovereignty of our nation should be upheld and respected. The arbitral ruling that voided Beijing’s nine-dash line and their claims on WPS should not be set aside. We should remind everyone that this ruling is final, binding and unappealable,” the lawmaker pointed out.

Earlier, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo confirmed that the agreement “will proceed provided that the terms are in our favor.”

National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the agreement was “fair enough” since China would spend for the exploration.

He said the Philippines and China have already formed a joint steering committee led by the Department of Foreign Affairs to work on the deal after the signing of memorandum of agreement during the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping last year. – With Edu Punay, Pia Lee-Brago