Malacañang on Monday said the country will proceed with its oil joint venture with China, ignoring a call from Vice President Leni Robredo for Beijing to first recognize Manila’s sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea.
Robredo was “divorced from reality” with her recent pronouncement, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said.
“As far as this President is concerned… we will move with respect to our foreign policy on the basis of whether it is to our interest and whether or not it will boost the development leading to the progress of this land,” Panelo said at a press briefing.
Earlier, Robredo said Manila should first demand Beijing recognize the country’s ownership and sovereignty in the West Philippines Sea before entering a joint deal.
“For me, the basic premise should be even before we enter into any agreement with China, China has first to recognize our ownership and sovereignty over the area that will be subject to a joint exploration because that was the cause of the dispute, right?” Robredo told ABS-CBN News Channel.
“That should be one of our most basic demands: that before we enter into a contract with them, they recognize first our ownership and our sovereignty over those [areas],” she added.
The Philippines and China have been locked in a long-standing maritime dispute over Beijing’s expansive claims in almost all of the South China Sea.
“We know that China is not recognizing our rights over there. In fact, they are saying that it’s theirs. Nevertheless, they’re open to negotiation. So, if it’s open then we will proceed provided the terms are to our favor,” Panelo said.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said Chinese leader Xi Jinping promised to give 60 percent of the revenues to the Philippines from the joint venture, if the country will set aside the 2016 arbitral ruling that affirmed Manila’s sovereign rights over its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.
This comes at a time as gas resources in the Malampaya fields are set to run out by 2024.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in 2016 that the Philippines had legal rights to exploit gas deposits that China also claims in the Recto Bank, about 85 miles off the Philippine coast.
National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., who also chairs the national task force on the West Philippine Sea, said the proposed 60-40 revenue split was “more than fair” since Beijing will “spend for all the extraction and other things.”
But he said the 60-40 scheme is still subject to change as the inter-governmental steering committee that will supervise the projects will start the first round of talks next week.
Meanwhile, officials said a discussion of a code of conduct in the South China Sea in the upcoming 34th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Thailand is “unavoidable.”
President Rodrigo Duterte would also be expected to raise the creation of the code during the summit, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Junever Mahilum-West said in a press briefing.
“I wouldn’t want to preempt what the President would say. But in terms of looking at the conditions, the situation on the ground or at the South China Sea, for example, I think the President would be expected to say something about it,” Mahilum-West said.
The President, in the previous Asean summit, expressed disappointment over the delay in the crafting of the code, which is expected to outline the peaceful resolution of maritime disputes between the claimants of the contested waters.
The binding document will set forth protocols and rules to ensure no violent conflicts will arise between China and Asean-member countries with claims in the resource-rich territories.
Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier agreed to speed up the negotiationson the draft COC.
The Philippines is the current coordinator of the ASEAN-China Dialogue, which is currently working on the code in the South China Sea.
During the summit, the President will be accompanied by the secretaries of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Industry, and Social Work and Development.
President Duterte’s common-law wife Cielito “Honeylet” Avanceña will also accompany him as she will join the Spouses Program, Chief Presidential Protocol Robert Borje said.
The Palace has yet to confirm the details on when the President will leave for the country, but Mahilum-West said the Asean Summit Plenary will begin on Nov. 2, Saturday.
On Nov. 3, the opening ceremonies of the Asean Summit will be held, followed by the Asean-China Summit, the Asean-India Summit, and the Asean-United Nations Summit.
The next day, Nov. 4, the Asean Plus Three Summit will be held among the 10 member states with China, Japan, and Korea where leaders are expected to share their views on regional and international issues affecting the region and beyond.
The Asean-US Summit will be also be held later that day.
A special lunch on sustainable development is also expected on Nov. 4 through the initiative of Thailand as chair.
In the afternoon, the 14th East Asia Summit, Asean-Japan Summit and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Summit or RCEP, are also scheduled.
The closing ceremony will be held in the evening, followed by a press conference.
The Mekong-Japan Summit Working Dinner is also scheduled that day.
There are also two major side events during the summit–the Asean Business and Investment Summit and the Indo-Pacific Business Forum.
Also on Monday, Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio said Monday the five claimant states in the South China Sea that are also Asean members should sign a convention to agree to settle territorial disputes in the Spratlys peacefully through negotiations.
“ASEAN has no dispute settlement mechanism for territorial or maritime disputes,” Carpio said at a keynote speech during the Stratbase ADR Institute-led roundtable discussion. “The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation for Southeast Asia does not provide for an adjudicatory dispute settlement mechanism, must less a compulsory or binding one.”
In fact, he said, ASEAN member-states have resorted to the voluntary dispute settlement mechanism under the International Court of Justice, which requires submission by the disputant states to arbitration.
But Carpio added that the pressing problems facing the Asean is not territorial dispute among its member-states, but a maritime dispute between member-states and China, which claims about 85.7 percent of the entire South China Sea under its so-called nine-dash-line.