"It is clear that Mrs. Aquino took advantage of her dictatorial powers under the aegis of her so-called Freedom Constitution."
"It is clear that Mrs. Aquino took advantage of her dictatorial powers under the aegis of her so-called Freedom Constitution."
Part II
Justice Antonio Carpio is citing an obscure Treaty of Washington purporting that Spain relinquished to the United States “all titles and claims of titles, which may have at that time of the conclusion of the Treaty of Paris, to any and all islands belonging to the Philippine Archipelago, lying outside the lines of the Treaty of Paris.” He, however, failed to state that the alleged treaty did not mention any island referred to as “lying outside the lines.”
Such is an attempt to becloud the important Treaty of San Francisco signed much later on Sept. 8, 1951 by 48 countries led by the US ordering Japan to return Paracel and Spratly group of islands to China. This was reiterated by the Treaty of Taipei on April 2, 1952 containing almost the same provision, except that it ordered Japan to return the islands to Taipei to prevent China from having prior right over the islands. Carpio is clearly bent on confusing historical facts to validate his misplaced assertion.
Likewise, petitioners former Bayan Muna representatives Neri Colmenares, Teddy Casiño, and Satur Ocampo; the late Anakpawis representative Crispin Beltran; former Gabriela representatives Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan; former Quezon congressman Erin Tañada and former Senator Teofisto “TG” Guingona III failed to take into account that the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the VFA and the EDCA not on the issue of the US bases per se, but on technicality that an executive agreement is valid even if not ratified by the US Senate, although our Senate went through the rigmarole of ratifying them.
The JMSU and the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on the other hand, have nothing to do with the stationing of military bases, which is specifically prohibited by the Constitution. Rather, their ulterior motive is to find a way to declare the JMSU agreement unconstitutional to decapitate altogether the MOU with China.
Re-examining the actions taken by the Cory administration, it is clear that Mrs. Aquino took advantage of her dictatorial powers under the aegis of her so-called “Freedom Constitution” to issue edicts to allow foreign oil companies to explore, operate and extract oil. Her government practically restored the discredited concession system which Marcos substituted in favor of service contract system.
Many opposed the concession system because once private oil companies are granted permit, the role of the government would be limited just to receiving a paltry amount of royalty fee similar to mining concession plus tax based on the amount or volume extracted which is often padded and for which numerous tax exemptions are granted that often put the government at the losing end.
This impelled the Marcos administration through the suggestion of Geronimo Velasco to replace the concession system with the “service contract system”. This also explains why the implanted former Shell oil executive, Cesar Buenaventura, was appointed to replace Velasco as Secretary of Energy. His first act was to suggest the abolition of the Department, thereby wrecking the country’s energy development program with some now fearful could be used by the opposition to spoil the MOU signed with China.
Cory issued Executive Orders that had clear markings of political pressures promoted to advance the business interest groups led by the Lopezes, the Ayalas and the Aboitizes.
E.O. No. 20, signed on June 19, 1986 abolished the Department of Energy under the guise of placing the Offices, Agencies and Corporations attached to it under the Administrative Supervision of the Office of the President. This effectively abrogated P.D. No. 1206.
E.O. No. 55, issued on Oct. 1, 1986 mothballed the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) and guaranteed full payment of our obligation to an almost ready to operate plant. That decision effectively flushed to the toilet $2.1 billion in taxpayers’ money. Many suspect it was purposely done to sustain the expected increase in the number of power generation plants. In fact, the mothballing of BNPP forced Cory Aquino to issue E.O. No. 215 on July 10, 1987 to allow private companies to generate their own power, and sell their generated power directly to public utilities even if operated by them, amending P.D. No. 40.
E.O. No. 131, signed on Jan. 30, 1987, reorganized the Ministry of Natural Resources and renamed it Department of Environment, Energy and Natural Resources. This in effect restored the “concession system” to grant permit and authority to private and foreign oil companies to explore and extract oil and gas in lieu of the discarded “service contract system.”
E.O. No. 137 watered down the functions of The Oil Price Stabilization Fund (OPSF) by introducing amendments to include 1) the reimbursement to oil companies for cost increases in crude oil and imported petroleum products resulting from exchange rate adjustment and/or increase in world market prices of crude oil; 2) to reimburse the oil companies for possible cost underrecovery incurred as a result of the reduction of domestic prices of petroleum products.
E.O. No. 171, signed on May 8, 1987, amended certain provisions of P. D. No. 334 creating the Philippine National Oil Company. This reduced the PNOC as the lead government agency in the exploration, exploitation and development of oil, petroleum and other energy resources secondary to private oil companies engaged in the same undertaking. This is now amplified by the consortium of four oil companies, namely Shell, Chevron, EDC and PNOC at Malampaya oil well.
E.O. No. 279 signed on July 25, 1987 authorized the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources to negotiate and conclude joint venture, co-production or production sharing agreements for the exploration and development and utilization of mineral resources. Former Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque was correct in citing Section 2, 4th par., Article XII, to erase doubts, to quote: “The President may enter into agreements, with foreign-owned corporations involving either technical or financial assistance for large-scale exploration, development, and utilization of minerals, petroleum, and other mineral oils according to the general terms and conditions provided by law, based on real contributions to the economic growth and general welfare of the country.”
This is now the grey area because many of these Filipino-owned corporations engaged in the exploration and utilization of oil and gas are partners to foreign-owned corporations, making it difficult to determine the exact 60-40 sharing provided in the constitution because of the modification and amendment introduced by P.D. Nos.87 and 443.
E.O. No. 280, signed on July 25, 1987, expanded the incentive features of Letters of Instruction (LOI) No. 1352 dated Sept. 8, 1983 to encourage oil exports processing activities in the country by including therein immediate production for feedstocks and authorizing the swap or exchange of petroleum products, thereby amending LOI No. 1352. This has failed because foreign oil refineries built pursuant to this E.O. have been closed due to lower cost in imports than in processing crude oil.
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