Two Presidents Let China Exploit Our Seabeds

China warships illegally survey Luzon coastal seabeds.

- JARIUS BONDOC

It's as if we're still under pro-Beijing Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, 2001-2010, and Rodrigo Duterte, 2016-2022.

In September 2004, Arroyo sneaked off to China to sign a secret Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking. Manila and Beijing were to jointly explore 142,886 square kilometers of seabed straddling Palawan's westside.

JMSU covered Sampaguita Field in Recto (Reed) bank. State geologists in the 1970s had found gas there like nearby Malampaya.

Arroyo conceded the area as "disputed waters." Yet one-sixth was Philippine territory consisting of Palawan's continental shelf, and the rest exclusive economic zone.

One of the nine coordinates was only 25 kilometers from Palawan's Balabac town. The only "disputed waters" with China then were the Spratlys at the edge of Philippine 370-km (200-mile) EEZ.

Vietnam got wind of the deal, and demanded participation as a Spratly disputant. Arroyo had to make JMSU Tripartite in March 2005, valid for three years. Vietnam later lost interest since Philippine territory was involved.

Geopolitics writer Barry Wain blew the lid off the clandestine exploration in a 2008 report in Far Eastern Economic Review. Only then did Filipinos learn about JMSU.

By then Arroyo had plunked more than $5 million of the $16-million three-way expense.

JMSU expired March 2008 with unfinished work. A clause enabled Beijing to wangle one-year extension. Under public fire, Arroyo balked.

For not joining JMSU Part-two, Manila forfeited receipt of its copy of the survey report.

In 2009, Beijing filed a claim over the entire South China Sea. Invoking "historical rights" via nine-dash line, it bolstered its claim with the JMSU report.

Experts denounced Arroyo for seven Constitutional violations:

(1) Ceding Philippine seabed as disputed, against Article I, National Territory;