Two retired chief justices of the Supreme Court have been tapped by the Department of Energy to provide advice on the legal hurdles as well as policy gaps relating to the multi-billion Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project as well as other upstream oil and gas ventures in the country.
Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla announced that former SC Chief Justices Artemio V. Panganiban and Reynato S. Puno will serve as senior legal advisors in the newly-created Law and Energy Advisory Panel of the Department of Energy.
“Retired Chief Justice Panganiban and retired Chief Justice Puno have kindly agreed to be the co-chairs of the DOE’s Law and Energy Advisory Panel. They will serve as private citizens and will not assume any public office,” the energy chief said, while specifying that “legal responsibility and accountability will continue to reside in the DOE.”
According to Lotilla, the creation of the DOE’s law and advisory panel is “pursuant to the President’s instructions to accelerate and expand the development of our indigenous energy resources.”
He emphasized that since one energy policy focus of the Marcos administration is on attracting investments in the oil and gas sector, “We would address any of the legal uncertainties as well over the upstream sector, because the natural gas of the country is needed not only as a back-up or to regulate the variable renewable energy -- but even before, that’s been a major source of power, especially for the island of Luzon.”
The hiring of the two former SC chief justices is to ensure that the recommendations to the President and the Congress from the Department of Energy are "fully grounded on the Constitution, the laws of the land and some legal principles.”
At this stage, some legal issues are hounding the ongoing negotiations on the anticipated changeover of ownership of the operating stake of the Malampaya field. This is a critical matter expected to be fleshed out and exhaustively reviewed by the DOE with the help of its senior legal advisors.
On the timeline of work to be accomplished relating to the Malampaya shares divestment based on the prescription of Department Circular (DC) 2007-04-0003, the energy secretary observed the schedules are quite tight. However, he said, that even if those schedules are extended, it should not go beyond 2022.
Lotilla further said that the functions of the Law and Energy Advisory Panel, include advising the department on various energy-related reform initiatives and legal matters and the promotion of indigenous as well as low carbon sources.
"The proposed initial discussions will cover legal matters, involving the country’s upstream oil and gas sector in general; and will include the country’s biggest gas-to-power initiative today, the Malampaya-Camago project,” the energy chief said.
Lotilla noted “the advisory panel will also advise the DOE on the objectives, content and overall substance of the energy sector’s legislative agenda that cover alternative and new technologies.”
On matters relating to the signing of petroleum service contracts, the DOE chief stipulated that this particular matter was already resolved within the legal cluster of the Marcos Cabinet. The Cabinet's legal cluster also concurred that the the President that shall be the signatory of service contracts on upstream oil and gas investments in line with the established jurisprudence as anchored on a Supreme Court ruling on the Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. (JAPEX) case that was rendered in 2015.
“The legal cluster of the Cabinet has looked at the issues emanating from the JAPEX case ruling of the Supreme Court way back in 2015; that it is the President who must personally sign these service contracts in order for them to be valid,” Lotilla noted.