MANILA – All 29 new agreements that the Philippines has recently entered into with China must be scrutinized, according to Sen. Franklin Drilon.
The llonggo senator called for the examination of the deals as he cited the controversial previous deals with China, such as the Northrail Project and NBN-ZTE deal.
“Controversies involving these two multimillion-dollar Philippine government undertakings with China are too recent to be forgotten,” Drilon said in a statement.
“Taking into account the grossly disadvantageous contracts that the government had previously signed with China,” he said, “it is imperative that we scrutinize these new deals to assess whether the agreements are consistent with the Constitution and our laws.”
The aborted North Rail project, which costs $421 million, and the controversial NBN-ZTE deal, which amounted to $329 million, were two of the biggest deals the Philippines signed with China.
Drilon called for “absolute transparency,” particularly with the memorandum of understanding on cooperation on the oil and gas development at the disputed West Philippine Sea.
“Consistent with Section 2 of the Constitution, the exploration, development and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State,” he said.
“All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna, and other natural resources are owned by the State,” he added.
The memorandum of understanding was one of the 29 documents signed and exchanged by the Philippines and China in the fields of trade and investment, banking and finance, infrastructure, agriculture, education, culture, and people-to-people exchanges.
“All agreements that may involve exploration of natural resources should comply with the nationality requirement of the Constitution,” he said. “We will be vigilant in scrutinizing these agreements. We are prepared to go to court on this.”/PN
