MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) has denied with finality the motion for reconsideration and upheld its decision last January declaring the Tripartite Agreement for Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) among the China National Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (Petrovietnam) and the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) unconstitutional.
The scuttled deal would have covered an area at the South China Sea covering 142,856 square meters.
In a statement Wednesday, the high court said it has resolved to deny the motion for reconsideration filed in the case, saying it is "merely repleaded the issues raised..which the court already passed upon".
The original decision dated Jan. 10, 2023 had declared the JMSU unconstitutional for allowing wholly owned foreign corporations to participate in the exploration of the country's natural resources without observing constitutional safeguards.
The court said that to be valid, the JMSU must be executed and implemented directly by the state, through co-production, joint venture or production sharing agreements with Filipino citizens or qualified corporation, through small scale utilization by natural resources or through agreements entered into with foreign-owned corporations involving technical or financial assistance for large scale exploration, development and ulitization of minerals.
The JMSU in question does not fall into the said modes, the court said, since it involves foreign corporations noting that the state would lose full control and supervision under the JMSU. (PNA)
