Senate sets April Spratly probe, JPEPA vote

Press Release
By Office of Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago
March 9, 2008

PASAY CITY, Philippines  –  Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, said that the public hearing on the controversial 2005 Spratly Islands agreement, as well as the Jpepa committee report, will be taken up on April 28, when Congress resumes session after the Holy Week break.

“Following Senate practice, the Spratly Islands investigation will probably be assigned to two committees:  foreign relations committee for the constitutional and legal aspects, and blue ribbon committee for the criminal aspect,” she said.

Santiago said that the 2005 tripartite Joint Marine Seismic Understanding (JMSU) among the Philippines, China, and Vietnam, raises the issue of whether it violates the constitutional provision on Philippine sovereignty or jurisdiction over defined national territory.

“A mere scientific or technical cooperation agreement, which does not diminish or threaten Philippine sovereignty or jurisdiction, is constitutional,” she said.

The JMSU will collect data and information on the potential oil and gas reserves in the area, planned to last for three years, at US$15 million.

Santiago said that former Sen. Franklin Drilon, when he was justice secretary, issued a 1990 opinion stating it was “legally feasible” for the Philippines and Australia to conduct a similar Offshore Seismic Project.

She quoted Drilon, who ruled:  “the project proposal which involves data-gathering, processing, and interpretation techniques envisioned pre-exploration activities which are not covered by constitutional limitations.”

“Drilon in 1990 said that a seismic project with Australia was legally feasible.  Now Drilon in 2008 is saying that a similar seismic project with China could be a legal basis for impeaching President Arroyo.  He will have to explain his mental calisthenics before the committee,” she said.

Santiago said that in his 1990 opinion, Drilon stated that after completion of the seismic project, “the President may enter into a service contract with a wholly-owned Australian corporation for large-scale exploration, development, and utilization of petroleum resources in accordance with P.D. No. 87, and other pertinent laws.”

“In 1990, Drilon approved not only the seismic project, but even a service contract with a foreign country for the use of petroleum resources.  By contrast, in 2008, Drilon implies that a similar seismic project, without a service contract is already illegal and exposes the President to impeachment.  This is a flip-flop that shows intellectual inconsistency,” she said.

Santiago cited the 1992 ASEAN Declaration on the South China Sea issued in Manila, where ASEAN foreign ministers resolved, “without prejudicing the sovereignty and jurisdiction of countries having direct interests in the area, to explore the possibility of cooperation in the South China Sea relating to the safety of maritime navigation and communication, protection against pollution in the marine environment . . .”

Santiago said the 1992 Declaration was followed by the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which she said “is merely a political declaration, without binding legal force, seeking to turn a sea of disputes into a sea of cooperation, pursuant to the policy of the late Chinese leader Deng Xiao Ping.”

Deng advocated the principle of “putting aside the disputes and jointly exploiting,” the area of the South China Sea.

“There is a curious question of timing.  Since the pact was signed three years ago, why is it only now that it is being assailed as alleged presidential misconduct?  What is the basis for the charge by a foreign writer that it is an alleged sellout?” she said.

Santiago warned that RP-China relations should not be dragged into the political fray, noting that China has extended preferential loans to the Philippines for various development programs, and is now the main financial provider for Southeast Asia, ahead of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and aid programs from the US and Japan.

“The anti-Arroyo campaign should not be turned into an anti-China campaign.  We should consign power plays to the domestic arena.  International relations and diplomacy are too important to our national interest to be used as partisan political ploys.  It takes decades to build up good interstate relations,” she said.

In another development, Santiago said that when Congress resumes on April 28, she will release a Full Committee Report recommending conditional concurrence with Jpepa.

“Ordinarily, a committee report is only two pages, bearing the signatures of committee members.  But this time my committee report will be so extensive that it will be a bound volume.  Jpepa is an extraordinary treaty, raising significant issues of constitutional and international law,” she said.

Santiago said that Jpepa committee report will comprise at least four documents:  the standard format with the signatures of nearly all 23 senators who are members of the two committees; the draft Senate resolution setting out the conditions for concurrence; the report on the constitutional and legal issues filed by herself as chair of the foreign relations committee; and the report on the trade and industry issues to be filed by Sen. Mar Roxas as chair of the trade and commerce committee.

The senator said she finished Jpepa hearings in November last year, but Sen. Edgardo Angara requested additional hearings that took another month.

“In January, the Senate could not take up Jpepa, because the budget always takes priority.  In February, it was overtaken by the NBN probe.  This March, there is an extended Congress break.  That is why April, when session resumes, is the earliest date available,” she said.

Santiago said she hopes Japan will accept the conditions, without resubmitting the Jpepa to the Japanese Diet or parliament.

“The constitutional issues are paramount. Hence, the Senate should ensure that the Supreme Court will not declare Jpepa unconstitutional.  If we do not take scrupulous care in the Senate and the court declares it unconstitutional, such declaration of unconstitutionality will not be a valid defense, if Japan later sues the Philippines for nonperformance of contract obligation.  This is a provision of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties,” the senator said.

Santiago will be abroad until November this year, to campaign for the post of judge of the International Court of Justice where, if elected by the United Nations, she will be the only female among 15 judges elected worldwide on the basis of the highest qualifications in international law.