Shahani helping ex-Cabinet men assess 'Spratlys deal'

The reformist pressure group, Former Senior Government Officials (FSGO), has added the “Spratlys deal” as one of the issues it will be looking into in assessing the governance of the Arroyo administration.

The group of around 90 former Cabinet members and senior officials set up a study group that will look into the controversial 2005 Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) agreement among the Philippines, China and Vietnam.

The study group will be convened by former senator Leticia Ramos-Shahani, a foreign policy expert and senior diplomat during the Marcos administration. She is a sister of former president Fidel Ramos, one of President Arroyo's leading allies and defenders.

Other members of the study group are: former Finance secretary Ernest Leung, former Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation president Ricardo Tan, former presidential adviser on the peace process Teresita "Ging" Deles, and former Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chair Felicito Payumo.

Disturbing briefing

In their initial look at the JMSU, Leung said Shahani gave them “a disturbing briefing on what happened in the Spratly Deal.”

Leung said he is now concerned that the JMSU may lead to a “conflict” with neighboring countries.

“Our capacity in terms of taking national interest with force is a serious concern,” he said.

Seismic surveys

Under the JMSU, the national oil companies of the Philippines, China and Vietnam undertake seismic surveys for oil or gas in the South China Sea near Palawan.

Critics of the JMSU said the agreement may “compromise” the Philippines' claim over the Kalayaan Group of Islands since the areas where the survey was conducted is mostly in Philippine territory, including areas not claimed by China and Vietnam.

Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei are the other territorial claimants in the South China Sea.

Treason?

Based on the allegation that the JMSU weakened the Philippines claim, Mrs. Arroyo has been accused of "treason" since the agreement was also cleared by the Office of the President.

Critics of the JMSU have also alleged that the agreement was done in exchange for China loan packages, including the controversial $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) project with Chinese company, ZTE Corp..

Shahani, who was not present in the FSGO press conference Thursday morning, has been concerned with the country’s claim over the disputed territory. Since the 1990s, she has been pushing for a passage of a Philippine baseline law that would strengthen the territorial claim.

“I cannot understand why a congress of lawyers cannot attend to it quickly,” Leung said.

Big interest in JMSU

The membership of the study group may even grow, said Deles.

E-mail exchanges expressing concern over the JMSU controversy and the stalled baseline bills are circulating among the FSGO members.

“It drew avid interest and concern across the different clusters,” Deles said.

The FSGO is also known as La Salle-60 because of the original 60 signatories in the group’s first statement, "Time To Go," which called on incumbent Cabinet members to resign due to the corruption scandals under the Arroyo government.

The FSGO has since grown to about 90 members.

FSGO clusters

FSGO has created “clusters” to prepare reform proposals for the administration that will succeed Mrs. Arroyo.

There are clusters on economy and finance, social services, governance, and foreign affairs, among others.

The group that will look into the JMSU is actually a “sub-group” created earlier this week. By CARMELA FONBUENA - abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak