Spratly Deals Cover 6 Philippine Islands

By YVONNE T. CHUA and ELLEN TORDESILLAS
VERA Files

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MANILA — Six islands occupied by the Philippines in the disputed Spratly Islands Group are covered by two controversial joint seismic monitoring agreements among the Philippines, China and Vietnam that have come under fire for purportedly “sacrificing” Philippine interests in exchange for huge loans from Beijing.

Based on coordinates provided in the annex to both agreements, the agreement area includes Patag (Flat), Lawak (Nanshan), Parola (Northeast Cay), Panata (Lankiam Cay), Kota (Loaita) and Likas (West York) islands occupied by the Philippine military.

The agreement also covers 24,000 square kilometres of undisputed Philippine territory.

The area’s easternmost edge is around 25 kilometers from the southern tip of Palawan. At its northern boundary, the area abuts the Malampaya oil field and includes an area the Philippines had long awarded to a British company for oil exploration.

The six Philippine-occupied islands in the Spratlys

Of the total 142,886 kilometers, around 24,000 square kilometers clearly belong to the Philippines and fall outside the areas in the Spratlys which are claimed either in whole or in part by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia and Brunei.

The area also swallows almost 80 percent of the Kalayaan Group which the Philippines claims.

The Spratly island itself, which serves as the island group’s main reference point, is at the westernmost area covered by the agreement and about 700 kilometers from Palawan.

The 142,886-square-kilometer study area also covers Itu Aba, the largest island in the disputed group of islands and the only one claimed and held by Taiwan, a non-signatory to the 2004 agreement.

Known as Tai Ping Island to Taipei, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian inaugurated Feb. 3 a 1,150-meter-long runway on the island, drawing protests from Philippine officials who called the visit “unfortunate” and “lamentable.”

Taiwan, one of the six claimants to the oil-rich group of islands in the South China Sea, has not officially reacted to the bilateral agreement between Beijing and Manila, and the tripartite agreement the two countries subsequently entered into with Hanoi since these deals recently got into the limelight. The Arroyo administration has come under fire amid allegations it received huge loans extended by China, including the corruption-tainted National Broadband Network project, after cutting the deals.

The Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking signed on Sept. 1, 2004 between Philippine National Oil Co. and China National Offshore in Beijing during the state visit of President Arroyo was expanded six months later to include Petro Vietnam.