IN a television report the other day Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo disclosed in a Senate hearing that the Philippines is now ready for the renegotiation of the stalled joint gas and oil exploration project in the West Philippine Sea with China. The negotiation for the deal was terminated without arriving at the desired result during the dying days of the Duterte administration.
Secretary Manalo told the Senate that at the time of the termination of the negotiation by the previous administration the issue that was the “apple of discord” was the Philippine proposal to have a 60-40 percent sharing of whatever profit that may be derived from the joint venture once extraction of either oil or natural gas starts operation.
According to Manalo China is not amenable to the 60-40 sharing proposition in favor of the Philippines. The Chinese government is not even agreeable to a 50-50 arrangement.
Meanwhile, the Philippines still remains firm on its 60-40 proposal in our favor because to agree on anything less is a violation of the Constitution. Manalo reinforced our country’s position with the award we got from the Arbitral Tribunal granting the Philippines an area in the West Philippine Sea as part of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone of EEZ. Which China refuses to honor.
The termination of the negotiation did not make big news in the Philippines probably because election time was fast approaching when it happened. None of the candidates for President made an issue about it except for the statement, “we will not give up even a square inch of our territory” made more funnily iconic by then Presidential candidate Manny Pacquiao’s trying the mimic from the then leading aspirant Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr.
China was also intriguingly silent about the termination of the negotiation until only about two weeks ago when the giant country suddenly dropped some kind of a “bombshell.” And what bombshell is this that we are talking about? It is the sudden withdrawal by the Chinese government of its commitment to fund through loans several of the country’s big ticket projects like expressways, railways in Luzon and in Mindanao and some bridges one of which is the about-to-be-started Davao City-Samal Connector Bridge estimated to cost about P24 billion.
And it was also the other day that we were reminded of our conversation with one of the stakeholders in the bridge project that led us to connect the common perception that China will not just extend any assistance without any condition that will work to the said country’s favor. Yes, we had the chance of talking with Mr. Julian Rodriguez III, son of Dr. Julian Rodriguez Jr., owner of one of the most affected establishments, business and environmentally-wise. We were inquiring for booking and it so happened he was in the office when we called and answered the phone since his staff was outside on an errand. We took the opportunity to inquire the status of their establishment’s efforts to have the proposed bridge re-routed. We asked Mr. Rodriguez how he feels about the withdrawal by China of the funding commitment for the bridge. He told us he is sad about it even if the project’s realization means a serious infringement of their resort’s operation. After all, he said his firm is not really against the bridge construction but only on its location and its negative impact of the underwater habitat that the family-owned resort and one other have been painstakingly nurturing to save from total annihilation.
From that chance conversation the thought that the commitment for loan grants by China to fund several mega infrastructure projects in the country, is one of its many leverages in getting the upper hand in the sharing agreement of the joint exploration project in the WPS. The other possible leverages is China’s military strength, superior technology and of course its virtual control of the current economy of the Philippines. Yes, China knows that almost all industry and big business like malls are controlled by Chinese citizens masking their real loyalty with their Filipino citizenship.
Now, with the very likely derailment of multi-billion peso projects sans Chinese funding the present administration will definitely be in hard-pressed in searching for other possible funding patrons. However, from the report of Foreign Affairs Secretary Manalo it is certain that the government’s first option is to renegotiate with China. But already, with almost all aces in China’s hands we wonder if we can succeed in getting the 60-40 profit sharing to the Philippine advantage.
For the meantime the Davao City-Samal Connector bridge will remain nebulous with only its perspective as the inspiring hope for its realization.
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