The Duterte administration must not cavort with an encroaching neighbor like China by forging a joint venture agreement for oil exploration in the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Rep. Edcel Lagman was reacting to the announcement of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano that the Philippines is in the process of negotiating such a joint venture agreement with an undisclosed joint partner, even as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China was open to the idea of a joint venture with the Philippines.

This projected joint venture is both unconstitutional and an abandonment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s decision which recognized the country’s sovereignty over the resource-rich West Philippine Sea against the spurious claims of China.

Section 2 of Article XII of the Constitution unequivocally provides that the “State shall protect the nation’s marine wealth in its archipelagic waters, territorial seas and exclusive economic zone and reserve its use and enjoyment exclusively to Filipino citizens.”

Under the Constitution, the President can only enter into agreements with foreign-owned corporations for technical or financial assistance for large-scale exploration, development and utilization of our marine wealth as mere contractors of the government, but not as joint venture partners.

Any joint venture agreement negates the country’s exclusivity in the use and enjoyment of our marine resources for Filipinos and diminishes our territorial sovereignty.

We must avoid the mistake of the expired Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) in 2008 among the Philippines, China and Vietnam which gave China full access in gathering valuable data on natural gas deposits in our country like the Recto Reed Bank where one field alone holds about 2.7 to 3.4 trillion cubic feet of valuable resources.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN