Angara warns RP may lose Spratlys

BY DENNIS GADIL

SEN. Edgardo Angara yesterday warned that the Philippines could lose the Spratlys by default if Congress delays approval of the archipelagic baseline bill.

"It's either magiging part of international waters o ma-claim ng mga counter-claimants," Angara said.

Angara rejected the proposal of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chair of Senate foreign affairs committee, to create a joint congressional body to study the impact of the bill before deciding whether to approve it.

"Kukumbinsihin namin siya na maybe we can do that simultaneously (study and passing the bill), not only unilateral action," he said.

He added: "The passage of the delineation bill at pag-aaral don't contradict each other."

Angara said postponing approval of a baseline bill for at least six months would cause a setback in the country's bid to meet the May 2009 deadline set by United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Seas for the Philippines to define its archipelagic baseline.

"Pag hindi tayo kikilos, talo tayo by default. Kung hindi tayo magpapasa, we may forfeit by inaction," he said.

He said it would be beneficial for the country to pass a baseline bill to further strengthen its bid on the Spratlys.

Angara also brushed aside warnings that the passage of the baseline bill would heighten tension among Spratly-claimant countries like China.

The other claimant countries aside from the Philippines and China are Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

"Hindi totoo yan, scare mongering yan. With rapid advances in telecommunications and the sophistication of the United Nations, hindi mangyayari na ang isang bansa ay makikipag-gyera sa ibang bansa na tulad natin," said Angara.

"Huwag tayong magpatakot. Siguro mag-re-react, magpo-protesta sila (China). Karapatan nila yon. Pero mabuti na yan (at) lalabas at made-define ang dispute na pwede maging base ng settlement," he added.

The House version of the baseline bill authored by Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Lakas, Cebu) implicitly includes the Spratlys or Kalayaan Island Group and Scarborough Shoal as Philippine territories.

China last December sent a "note" to the Department of Foreign Affairs expressing its objection to HB 3216, prompting the Arroyo government to "propose" to the House that KIG and Scarborough Shoal be treated as mere "regime of islands."

Santiago has threatened to sit on the baseline bill in the absence of a joint congressional study.

She also said she does not care about the UN-imposed deadline.

Angara said only five senators are needed to transfer jurisdiction of a particular bill from a committee to the plenary, where the Senate as a whole would deliberate on the measure right at the session floor.

"Pero ayaw naming gawin yun. But it's bad impression na isang senator pwedeng pumatay ng isang bill," he said.

He reiterated that Spratlys should be part of the country's territory, which he said contains the biggest oil and gas reserve in the world and is said to be connected to the gas-producing Malampaya area in Palawan.

Angara noted that Vietnam has already awarded an oil concession to a private company while China has put up structures on the disputed islands.

Angara last week filed his version of a baseline bill which makes the Spratlys part of the national territory.