MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang Wednesday said that  the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) signed by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo worsened the dispute in the Spratlys.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that even China had always recognized the non-disputed territories belonging to the Philippines during the time of former President Ferdinand Marcos, noting that it was after the JMSU when China started claiming even non-disputed territories such as the Recto Bank, also known as the Reed Bank near Western Palawan.

President Benigno S. Aquino III had earlier insisted that the Reed Bank near Western Palawan should not be included in the territories being claimed by China, declaring that the Philippines will continue to protect its territorial waters.

“The People’s Republic of China (PROC) always recognized certain portions belonging to the Philippines. That was only after the JMSU was signed that we hear the Chinese already claiming,” Lacierda said.

“The 9- dash line theory came into fruition recently so when they claimed the 9-dash line theory, they claimed the entire West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) as practically theirs,” he said.

Lacierda said a diplomatic protest was filed to question the 9-dash line theory.

“The JMSU provided an opening for the Chinese to claim,” he said.

The JMSU is tripartite agreement policy between China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation and Philippine National Oil Company to explore certain areas in the West Philippine Sea. The agreement spurred a lot of controversies and put the relations of the Philippines with other neighboring countries in conflict.

The West Philippine Sea is one of the largest sea bodies in the world, encompassing an area of 3,500,000 km. There are several islands located here, many of which are subject to several competing claims of sovereignty by neighboring countries. This is due to the sea’s richness in natural resources such as oil and natural gas. The disputes between neighboring countries still exist to this date, especially, on the islands of Spratlys.

It will be recalled that in his speech during the 113th anniversary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, President Aquino blamed the Arroyo administration for the tension in the Spratlys, saying that there would not have been a problem if the previous administration had not made a pact to conduct the JMSU in 2005.

The first agreement was signed between the Philippines and China on September 1, 2004 and the second agreement between the two countries and Vietnam on March 14, 2005. The countries aim to conduct research on their petroleum resource potential as a pre-exploration activity. Seismic comes from the word seismology which is the most reliable method for finding oil through the use of shockwaves. Seismologists can determine what rocks are underground and can predict if they might contain oil.

After the signing of the agreement, major reports of disagreements between political parties began occurring. Some say that the Philippine Government undermined its political relations within the ASEAN and its own legal claims to islands, waters and continental shelf in the West Philippine Sea. Others believed that the agreement was unconstitutional and void. Some say it was a sellout on the part of the Philippines.

In signing the JMSU agreement, critics said the Philippine Government undermined its relation with other Asian countries. In 2002, members of the ASEAN and China signed 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties. The agreement’s aim is to promote a peaceful, friendly and harmonious environment in the West Philippine Sea. The JMSU now became a bilateral deal straying away from the united front that ASEAN had formed a successful deal with China.