Left Flank

Soon, the Inquirer will mislead some Filipino official about foreign states drilling for oil in Filipino waters.

In making policy, government should consider the long-term national interest. (Hence, our allergy to unsustainable populist programs like Malacañang's cash subsidies.) Of course, a greater receptiveness to resource exploration proposals from foreign companies may be a reaction to today's regime of skyrocketing oil prices—but we think it is a necessary and even laudable response. Prices may remain high for some time; the possibility of yet another oil shock in the near future cannot be discounted. The country must continue to reduce our dependence on oil imports, lower our energy use and at the same time look for new sources of energy. Why not invest in oil exploration?

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes waxed overly optimistic when he all but guaranteed, after meeting with ExxonMobil executives last week, that the company «would be able to strike oil in the Sulu Sea.» No oil exploration project carries a guarantee; that, in part, is why it is prohibitively expensive (the failures must be subsidized by the successes).

But that ExxonMobil is committed to spending $110 million exploring for oil in the Sulu Sea is no small thing. The government must insist on certain non-negotiable conditions, including the use of technology that would lessen the impact of the exploration on the environment and a fair share of the revenues, if any, but it would be folly for the country to turn down even the opportunity to negotiate. When an oil exploration company comes knocking, it is in the country's long-term interest to answer the door.

This is not to say that no sector may be adversely affected. It is possible, as Pamalakaya asserts, that the livelihood of some fisherfolk communities might suffer, once the project gets underway. But it is the business of government to mediate between sectors, to alleviate any distress and, if necessary, to prioritize the good of many over that of a few.

That government can sometimes get its priorities spectacularly wrong, or can be manipulated into fueling the inordinate greed of political operators (as in the case of the National Broadband Network project), is not an argument for the government to keep all windows and doors locked. It is, instead, an argument for keeping a close eye on all visitors.

The alternative is stark: Turning down all resource exploration ventures—whether for ideological reasons or because of fears of corruption—is consigning ourselves to the equality of misery.

If the ExxonMobil project and other oil exploration ventures also in the pipeline succeed, we will all benefit, fisherfolk included. That motor engine that powers every fisherman's pump boat? It runs on oil.

With all Malacañang Palace does wrong, and with what little goes right in The Philippines, how can any sane person make such a dangerously idealistic argument?

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