Gas agreement nearing completion

By Joylyn R. Delfin

The National government is offering to give to Palawan 40% of the money that it will raise by securitizing the royalties to be paid by Shell Exploration from the Malampaya gas project, according to Vice Governor David Ponce Leon.
In a speech before the Provincial Board, Ponce de Leon said that this was agreed upon in a closed-door meeting among Department of Energy officials led by Secretary Vincent Perez, Governor Joel T. Reyes and the two Reps. Vicente Sandoval and Abraham Mitra.
Under the agreement, the national government will first release 20% of Palawan’s share from the securitized proceeds that will fund projects identified by the province. The other 20% will be used for energy-related projects.
“The first 20% would be a direct financial package while the other 20% has the provisions to be utilized mainly for the energization of the entire province and other developmental projects,” Ponce de Leon said.
Ponce de Leon said that while Palawan is claiming the Camago area as part of its territorial jurisdiction, it was also proposed that the Palawan government must also directly contribute to maintaining its security. He said that while the burden is not as big as what the national government is doing, assuming responsibility for the safety of the exclusion zone of the area would provide consistency in our claim.
“This is for us to be consistent in our claim, a logical thing wherein if you are the owner you have to bear part of its burden. This is to a great extent would not only provide security for the exclusion zone but will also maintain the safety of our territory and the protection of our natural resources,” Ponce de Leon said.
Ponce de Leon also noted that under Service Contract 38 made between the national government and Shell Philippines, both the national government and the provincial government of Palawan will not get any share from the first seven years of the project’s operation. All the proceeds will automatically go to the cost recovery program of the developers.
“There’s a legal basis on this as it was stipulated under Service Contract No. 38.
Revenues will have to go to the applied cost recovery of the developers for their putting up of the platform, pipelines and others,” he said.
Ponce de Leon said that this is contrary to the expectations of the Palawenos and a matter that is frustrating to the provincial leadership.
“This is a matter that would frustrate us but in here we are governed in the provisions of service contract no. 38.This is a legal binding contract and something that is hard to lift by,” he said.
As to the urgency of the national leaderships need to address the country’s deficit and other matters that needs urgent funding solutions, the Memorandum of Agreement between the national government and the provincial government for the proposal of 20% financial package is planned to be resolve this March. The draft according to Ponce de Leon would be personally hand carried by DOE Secretary Perez to Palawan for further deliberations and possible amendments.
Ponce de Leon stressed that they would not sign any document that would jeopardize Palawan’s rightful share. He also added that the draft would also be presented to the provincial board and to other policy makers of the province.
“They’re coming up with a clean draft. I suppose that the document would be prepared for the final draft before the end of this week. But we can assure the people of Palawan that before we affix our signature we will present it first to the political leaders of Palawan and draw the broadest possible spectrum in any given circumstances for the purpose of the policy of general transparency and we want to obtain here consensus as to the final stages of the of the negotiation.”
The negotiating panel according to Ponce de Leon would only be limited to the province’s top leaders like the two congressmen, the governor, vice-governor and leaders coming from the DOE, DOJ and DOF.
“The negotiation would only be for the negotiating panel. But we will apply here the broadest transparent discussion. The MOA will be presented to the provincial board and policy makers of the province before final decision be made. We will be dealing here mainly on the highest governmental structure, more authoritative key leaders of the government.”
“We got to have a trust with each other. We don’t need to be divided instead we need to be cohesive in this issue for this is much closer to the one that we are envisioning,” he added.  ^ Top