VERA Files
Retired Justice Antonio Carpio has urged President Ferdinand Marcos to provide security for the drilling operations of Forum Energy Ltd. when the company resumes its stalled oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea.
Labag sa 1987 Konstitusyon at sa hindi bababa sa dalawang lokal na batas ang sinabi ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte na “siyempre” papayagan ang mga mangingisda ng China na mangisda sa exclusive economic zone (EEZ) ng Pilipinas.
Duterte’s proposition directly violates the Philippine Charter, the Fisheries Code, and the archipelagic baselines law.
The sinking last week of Filipino-owned wooden fishing boat F/B GimVer 1 by a bigger Chinese ship in Recto Bank presents an expanding dynamic to Chinese expansionist claims over recognized Philippine maritime zones .
President Duterte dismissed what happened in Reed Bank on June 9 where a Chinese fishing boat “Yuemaobinyu 42212” rammed a Philippine fishing boat, F/B Gimver 1 which threw the 22 Filipino fishermen into the waters in the darkness of the night until they were rescued by a Vietnamese fishing boat, as just a “maritime incident.”
Supreme Court Justice Antonio T. Carpio believes that it was not a collision of fishing vessels that happened on June 9 in Reed Bank (Philippine name: Recto Bank; Chinese name: Liyue Tan), 80 nautical miles off Palawan and within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone.
We will be watching out for the details of the agreement on the joint exploration in the Spratlys that is expected to be signed in the presence of President Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping when the latter comes to Manila on Nov. 20 and 21. If there would be any agreement on joint exploration at all.
All these efforts and pronouncements about joint exploration with China in Philippine territory is in connection with the state visit of China’s President Xi Jinping in November.
It’s good that President Duterte has Harry Roque with him as he seems to have been convinced by China to start the joint exploration in Reed Bank also known as Recto Bank – an undertaking that China had been wanting to do and had been generous with its enticement to the Philippine government.
A day after President Duterte talked about” joint exploration” and “co-ownership” with the Chinese last Feb. 28 in Marawi City, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque was with Karen Davila in ANC’s Headstart.