01/02/2023
SC Declares Unconstitutional the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking Among Philippine, Vietnamese, and Chinese Oil Firms |
The Supreme Court En Banc, voting 12-2-1, declared unconstitutional and void the Tripartite Agreement for Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) by and among China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PETROVIETNAM), and Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) involving an area in the South China Sea covering 142,886 square kilometers (“Agreement Area”).
The Court ruled that the JSMU is unconstitutional for allowing wholly-owned foreign corporations to participate in the exploration of the country‟s natural resources without observing the safeguards provided in Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution.
The Court, noting that the term “exploration” pertains to a search or discovery of something in both its ordinary or technical sense, ruled that the JMSU involves the exploration of the country‟s natural resources, particularly petroleum.
Citing the text of the fifth whereas clause of the JMSU, which states the Parties‟ “expressed desire to engage in a joint research of petroleum resource potential of a certain area of the South China Sea as a pre-exploration activity,” the Court said that it is clear that the JMSU was executed for the purpose of determining if petroleum exists in the Agreement Area.
“That the Parties designated the joint research as a “pre- exploration activity‟ is of no moment,” said the Court. “Such designation does not detract from the fact that the intent and aim of the agreement is to discover petroleum which is tantamount to exploration.”
The Court further held that as the JMSU involves the exploration of the country‟s petroleum resources, it falls within the ambit of Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution.
Read more at https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/32108/.