Makabayan Chairman Neri Colmenares and several progressive groups asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to block a $62-million loan from China to fund the construction of the Chico River Dam.

The petitioners argued the deal was unconstitutional because it contained a confidentiality clause that violates the Filipino public’s right to information on foreign loans.

The agreement, they said, was also approved after-the-fact by the Monetary Board, which was against the requirement of prior concurrence under the law.

Under the deal, the project would also be awarded to a Chinese construction firm, thereby doing away with the country’s procurement laws and the Filipino First Policy, the petitioners said.

It also hauls the country to a Chinese arbitration tribunal, officiated by Chinese arbitrators using Chinese laws, in violation of the constitution, they said.

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