BY JP LOPEZ

DETAINED Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV has filed a bill to investigate the "Spratly deal" reportedly entered into by the Philippine and Chinese governments.

Quoting Malaya publisher Amado Macasaet, Trillanes said President Arroyo might have committed treason if she signed the "Spratly deal" in exchange for "loans attended by bribery and corruption."

A source has told Macasaet that under the Spratly deal, China would be allowed to explore territorial waters of the Philippines.

The Spratly deal also includes exploitation of the country’s exclusive economic zones, already contained in a memorandum of agreement signed between Department of Trade and Industry and ZTE International in January 2007, in exchange for four projects that would cost around $4 billion.

"This is treason because the pact has the effect of giving away Philippine sovereignty to a foreign country. In return, Chinese-owned firms provide the Philippines with overpriced loans for numerous projects," Trillanes said.

The $329 million NBN deal with China’s ZTE and the $500 million North railway and $932 million South railway projects would be financed by loans from China.

The Department of Education has its $465 million CyberEd project, also to be financed by loans from China. There are talks of overprice in all these projects.

Said to be potentially rich in gas and oil deposits, the Spratlys are claimed as a whole by China, Taiwan and Vietnam, and parts of it by Malaysia and the Philippines.

Trillanes also quoted an article published by the Far Eastern Economic Review accusing President Arroyo of selling out to China the Philippine and regional interests in South China Sea.

Barry Wain, a former Wall Street Journal Asia editor, in his article "Asean: Manila’s Bungle in the South China Sea," said Arroyo violated a 2002 regional agreement that called on Asean member-states to deal with China as a bloc on the Spratly dispute.

Trillanes said the reported agreement is "tantamount to effectively giving away the national patrimony as it actually concedes the exploration and exploitation of natural resources to foreigners."

He said that it proven true, it is another attempt by President Arroyo to circumvent the Constitution and amounts to betrayal of public trust and treason.

The House committee on agriculture is looking into the reports that Arroyo and former Speaker Jose de Venecia might have signed the "Spratly deal" with Beijing in exchange for loans attended by bribery and corruption, which might include the national broadband, the CyberEd and the NorthRail deals.

The panel chaired by Rep. Kahlil Abraham Mitra (NPC, Palawan) has started its investigation into the 31 agreements signed by the Philippine and the Chinese governments in January 2007, which would "promote bilateral trade and development in agricultural, fisheries and food products" in the next 10 years.

Party list Reps. Crispin Beltran (Anakpawis) and Risa Hontiveros (Akbayan), who called for the investigation, said they want to find out if the agreements have something to do with the alleged graft-ridden deals with China and if this is connected with the Spratly deal which could lead to a possible oil exploration by the Chinese in Philippine territorial waters.

The 31 memorandum of agreements (MOA) include the Framework Agreement on Expanding and Deepening Bilateral Economic and Trade Cooperation between RP and China.

Beltran said the House must know the agreement’s "implications on the economic welfare of Filipinos and their possible violations against provisions in the Philippine Constitution on economic sovereignty and patrimony."

Based on a position paper of the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services, Beltran said the 31 agreements cover a broad range of obligations which include "questionable financial grants and concessional loans, the undue removal of technical but protective barriers to trade, Chinese investment through the lease of more than 1.5 million hectares of Philippine land, aquaculture and all-around marine fishing, and the utilization of Philippine lands to establish bio-fuel plants to be produced for Chinese consumption."