Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said Tuesday the Philippines would not allow oil and gas deposits in the disputed South China Sea to be deposited singlehandedly by one nation alone.
The Duterte administration, which took over in 2016 from the Aquino administration, had sought closer relations with China, against which the Philippines won an arbitral ruling from the International Tribunal regarding the dispute in the area.
Former President Benigno Aquino III, who initiated the arbitration case against China, had said Manila had “no obligation” to share resources with Beijing, as Duterte worked on a possible cooperation agreement on exploration with China.
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Karimata and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around 3.5 million square kilometers.
Officials say the sea carries tremendous strategic importance: one-third of the world’s shipping passes through it carrying over $3 trillion in trade each year, it contains lucrative fisheries that are crucial for the food security of millions in Southeast Asia, and huge oil and gas reserves are believed to lie beneath its seabed.
Cayetano told reporters: “If there are living and non-living resources in the West Philippine Sea and we can come up with a framework that is win win win, why not?”
He added: “If not, it is our job to preserve, to make sure that the environment is not destroyed and that oil and gas is not harvested unilaterally at the expense of the other claimants.
“If any country, including China, is willing to give us in disputed areas the same [share] that we got in Malampaya, how can anyone argue that we lost our sovereign rights?”
This was in reference to the gas field, where the Philippines has a 60-percent share in revenues.”‹