Salvador Panelo: ‘No treason in oil, gas development deal with China’

MANILA, Philippines — No treason was committed when the Philippines and China signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on joint oil and gas development as the document was meant to just provide talking points for negotiations, Malacañang said yesterday.

Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria Sison earlier said the MOU signing was a “clear act of treason” by Duterte and a “blatant betrayal of the sovereign rights and national patrimony of the Philippines and the Filipino people.”

Sison said the memorandum, signed during the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping on Nov. 20, disregards the Philippines’ victory in its case against China before the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration.

He also argued that the MOU puts China at par with the Philippines with regard to sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea, including its resources.

But presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo disputed Sison’s claim, saying the MOU is just a framework that would pave the way for negotiations.

“Maybe he has not read the agreement signed. It’s just an agreement to agree on certain things. There is nothing there that will be a basis for any allegation of treason. Even the critics say there is nothing there,” Panelo said.

“The agreement is just an agreement to agree. It’s just a framework. As correctly stated by secretary of foreign affairs, it will be the basis of negotiations, talking points, and then after that, there will be an agreement between the two countries,” he added.

“It will start from those assigned to initially make some talks, then it will reach another level until it reaches secretary (Teddy) Locsin (Jr.). That’s the time to say anything whether for or against in any agreement,” Panelo explained.

He said the Duterte administration would make sure that all agreements are legal and beneficial to Filipinos.

“Our position has been: is this beneficial to us; is this constitutionally allowable? That’s always the question. We cannot go beyond that,” the presidential spokesman said.

Panelo previously said the Philippines is free to walk out of the MOU on oil and gas development with China if the deal would turn out to be detrimental to its interests.