Palace rejects anew MILF call for stop to oil exploration

(Updated 11:20 p.m.) Malacañang on Monday rejected anew the call of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to stop all on-shore and offshore oil and natural gas exploration activities in "Moro ancestral domain." At a press briefing, Ricky Carandang, Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office head, said the government is not suspending the exploration of the country’s oil and natural gas resources. “Nag-aangkat po tayo ng 90 percent na pangangailangan natin ng langis from other countries," he said. “If we can do anything to reduce this number of oil and gas that importation and perhaps produce it ourselves, the net effect will be positive for the economy." In a July 30 statement, the MILF said that while it is not against economic development, the exploration may violate the spirit of ongoing peace efforts. "The natural resources of the Bangsamoro Homeland belong to the Bangsamoro people. Resources constitute one of the four strands in the Bangsamoro Ancestral Domain issue that is central to the ongoing peace negotiation between the GPH [Government of the Philippines] and MILF," it said in the statement signed by MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar. Last month, the MILF already asked the government to temporarily stop the explorations pending the resolution of the ancestral domain issue in the peace negotiations. Investment potential Teresita Deles, presidential adviser on the peace process, rejected it saying there was nothing in the existing agreements with the MILF which prevents any exploration, development and utilization of natural resources. Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras earlier said the total investment potential of the 4th Philippine Energy Contracting Round amounted to US $7.5 billion. The contract areas cover at least 10 million hectares that could hold rich reserves in northwest Palawan, east Palawan and the Sulu Sea. MILF and government negotiators met in formal talks last June 27 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The issue of the ancestral domain was among the concerns raised during the peace talks. President Benigno Aquino III earlier bared the revived investor confidence specifically in the energy sector, citing over a hundred companies that expressed readiness to participate in the exploration process and efforts to strengthen the country’s oil and natural gas resources. President Aquino noted the signing of a new contract, for the construction of a power plant in Luzon that will not only lower the price of energy but also provide a more reliable source. Meanwhile, Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP) expressed support to the MILF's opposition to oil and gas exploration in what they pertain to as the 'Bangsamoro Homeland,' asserting that genuine economic development should be “geared towards uplifting the Bangsamoro people from their current impoverished state." “Clearly, the government’s active peddling of our resources is causing distress among national minorities, and even threatens to jeopardize the peace talks," said KAMP spokesperson Piya Macliing Malayao in a statement issued on Monday. — MRT/VS, GMA News