Fisherfolk group Pamalakaya exposed another secret government deal with China, which will allow Chinese oil companies to undertake offshore mining inside the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

BY GERRY ALBERT CORPUZ
Contributed to Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 5, March 2-8, 2008

Leftwing fisherfolk belonging to Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya or National Alliance of Small Fisherfolk Organizations) on Saturday asked the Philippine Senate to investigate an alleged secret agreement between the Philippines and China.

The undisclosed agreement will allow Chinese oil companies to undertake offshore mining inside the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the country’s territorial waters exclusively reserved for Filipino fishermen.

An official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) last week admitted that there was an irregularity in the deal signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with the Chinese government for joint exploration of Philippine-claimed territories in the disputed Spratlys.

“First, the Philippine government wants Japan factory ships to fish out the country’s rich tuna deposits in our exclusive economic zone through the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement, now it wants China to tap the country’s rich oil deposits in the country’s territorial waters,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement, a copy of which was sent to Bulatlat.

“This is against the country’s national sovereignty and patrimony, and would deny the Filipino fishermen their exclusive fishing rights,” added Hicap.

“We ask the Philippine Senate to undertake a separate and thorough investigation on the alleged sell out of the Exclusive Economic Zone to China’s offshore mining giants. This is a crime that is bigger compared to the $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal,” the Pamalakaya leader added.

Confirmation

The DFA official confirmed the agreement but said it has yet to be implemented, following the discovery of the NBN scam that put the Arroyo presidency in current political turmoil. The official said the deal was not even made known to other countries who are parties to the long-running conflict in the oil-rich Spratlys – Vietnam, Malaysia. Brunei and Taiwan.

The DFA official said Malacañang had been told about the serious implications of the deal, but top Palace decision-making officials rejected the advice and proceeded with the signing of the agreement. In 2002, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China signed a non-binding declaration on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea to prevent dispute among claimant states.

“The Senate must uncover this scam which is ten times bigger and 100 times more scandalous compared to the controversial ZTE deal,” Hicap said.

Pamalakaya learned that the RP-China Spratlys exploration deal was contained in an agreement signed by the Department of Trade and Industry and the ZTE International in January 2007 in exchange for projects amounting to $ 4 B.

The group said the $ 4-B package from China included the stalled NBN deal, the Cyber Education project, and the North Rail and South Rail projects, which are said to be overpriced by hundreds of millions of US dollars.

RP’s EZZ reserved for Japan, China?

The country’s territorial waters, including its exclusive economic zones which should be reserved for Filipino fishermen and businessmen in the fisheries sector were opened by the Macapagal-Arroyo government to big Chinese and Japanese transnational giants, according to Pamalakaya.

“While Pamalakaya positioned the same way the governments of China and the Philippines in condemning the planned visit of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian to Ligao Island in the Spratlys, it will not tolerate the Philippine government from serving in silver platter our marine and oil rich fishing areas to China and Japan’s profit starved corporations,” the fisherfolk group said.

Last month, tension in the disputed group of islands rose anew after Shui-bian boarded on C-130 transport plane landed in Ligao Island to commemorate the Lunar Year that started Feb.7 this year.

”Wait for the next President”

Meanwhile, Pamalakaya appealed to the European Union to wait for the country’s next president before giving 61 million Euros or $90.22 million aid to the Philippine government.

”They have to wait for the next elected President. Otherwise that would be corrupted by the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. The taxes paid by the European people will lose to the incumbent sitting crocodile President in Malacañang,” the group said.

Of the 61 million Euro aid to the Philippines, 36 million Euros will be used to deliver basic social services like health, the European Union said.

Some 12 million Euros will be used to support efforts to bring peace in Mindanao, while 13 million Euros will be allotted for trade development.

But Pamalakaya said, based on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s corrupt practice of governance since 2001, 80 percent of the European funds or 48 million Euros will go to corruption and pockets of allied politicians and only 20 percent will be used to some projects to show that the government really spent the funds for intended beneficiaries.

“Moderating greed is not even the cup of tea of this corrupt, criminal and brutal regime. We don’t know how much of the European Union funds will go to the ruling political gangland in Malacañang,” the group added.

“But we are very sure, more than 50 percent of the EU funds will go to the pockets of the Arroyo government and their partners in crime based on Arroyo’s running record of corruption,” the Pamalakaya leader added.

Pamalakaya said the $329-million NBN scandal allegedly involving the President, presidential spouse Jose Miguel Arroyo and other top officials of the government should serve as an eye opener to the European Union that they cannot entrust such huge amount to the present regime.

”Giving 61 million Euros to the present regime currently battered with high charge of corruption is like committing a suicide. We ask the European Union leaders to stop if not defer the aid, until a newly elected president is installed,” Pamalakaya said.

The militant group said it should also conduct a thorough review of all the aid and grants it gave to the Philippine government since 1976.

Pamalakaya said the European Union has poured about one billion Euros in aid to the Philippines, but these funds were not audited properly and are prone to first-rate corruption of government officials. (Bulatlat.com)