The Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking the Office of the Solicitor General’s (OSG) guidance on its next move after the Supreme Court (SC) invalidated as unconstitutional the tripartite agreement for joint marine seismic undertaking (JMSU) in the agreement area in the South China Sea.
The DOE said the agreement was between China National Offshore Oil Corp., Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp. and the Philippine National Oil Co. and was signed on March 14, 2005.
“The DOE will study the Supreme Court decision and its implications. The DOE will work closely with the OSG and the Department of Justice in determining the next steps to be taken on the matter,” said DOE Undersecretary Alessandro Sales, in a statement on March 18.
The DOE said the SC decision was promulgated as early as January but was only released last March 17.
The SC in its decision said the JMSU is unconstitutional as it allowed wholly-owned foreign corporations to participate in the exploration of the country’s natural resources without observing the safeguards provided under the 1987 Constitution.
The constitutionality of the JMSU was assailed on the ground that it violated Section 2, Article 12 of the 1987 Constitution which mandates that the exploration, development and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State.
The SC said the term “exploration” pertains to a search or discovery of something in both its ordinary or technical sense and ruled that the JMSU involves the exploration of the country’s natural resources, particularly petroleum.
Based on a statement by the Chinese embassy dated March 15, 2005, the three parties that signed the JMSU expressed desire to engage in a joint research of petroleum resource potential in the agreement area as a pre-exploration activity.
It added the joint activities will be conducted in the agreement area of about 143,000 square kilometers “in accordance with the seismic work programs approved by the parties” and will only last for three years.
The three signatories said the tripartite agreement “will not undermine the basic positions held by their respective governments on the South China Sea issue and will contribute to the transformation of the South China Sea into an area of peace, stability, cooperation and development in accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2002 Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.”
