60-40 sharing in favor of Philippines in joint exploration with China fair enough - NSA says
The proposed 60-40 sharing in favor of the Philippines in the planned joint gas and oil exploration with China in the West Philippine Sea is "fair" for both sides, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said on Friday.
In a press briefing in Malacanang, Esperon said the sharing could even go higher on the part of the Philippines depending on the meeting of the Philippine-China steering committee soon.
"They (China) are spending for it and we are getting more from the net ? more than fair, right?" he said.
He reiterated that in the joint exploration, Manila and Beijing were not discussing about territorial rights.
"We simply talked about it as a sharing that is just a fair for us and for the other side," Esperon added.
The Philippines and China have been embroiled in a territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
China continues to claim almost the entire South China Sea, including the areas within the Philippine exclusive economic zone, despite the ruling of an arbitral tribunal favoring Manila and invalidating Beijing's nine-dash line.
In the same press briefing, Esperon said from January to September this year, he has recommended filing of diplomatic actions on 39 action items.
He refused to give further details on China's response on those diplomatic actions by the Philippines.
"But I am satisfied with some; not with some because I recommend for diplomatic action when there are swarming in our islands. Sometimes they would decrease their deployments there. I am not even sure if that is because of weather conditions, but truth to tell even if they are there, then we simply have?we simply have to develop yet our own capabilities to enforce fisheries laws there. That should be our?one of our main directions," he explained.
Esperon said filing diplomatic protests was just one of the actions the Philippines could do against China's actions in the West Philippine Sea.
"Remember that the elements of power of state would involve diplomacy, economic, military, as well as legal and intelligence, informational. So we could use all of those but we are talking here about diplomacy, we don’t even have to discuss yet deploying or employing our military capabilities. But we can, in a limited sense," he added. Celerina Monte/DMS
