Marcos says despite WPS tensions, gov’t must find fuel sources for industrialization
Despite the ongoing tension in the West Philippine Sea, President Marcos said the Philippines will “find a way to move the process forward” for oil exploration projects.
“It’s imperative for the Philippines to find a way to move the process forward so as to be able to assure ourselves of a fuel supply during that transition period,” he said in an interview with NHK earlier this month.
“We are hoping to grow the fuel supply because industrialization is almost directly dependent on the power supply and its pricing… The supply of reliable, affordable power is always going to be critical, and it has been one of the problems that the Philippines has faced in terms of higher prices for power and a lack of supply.”
Mr. Marcos admitted negotiations with China for joint oil and gas exploration in the WPS, particularly in Recto Bank (Reed Bank), have remained stalled.
“We are still in a deadlock right now… We have been in negotiations for over three years now, and have made very little progress,” the President added.
Mr. Marcos said as far as the Philippines is concerned, Recto Bank “is not in a conflict area.”
“This is very clearly within our EEZ (exclusive economic zone). It is certainly within our baselines, within the maritime territory of the Philippines. So whatever it is that we will do in the future, it has to be consistent with that understanding,” he said.
The President did not say whether China is still being considered as a partner for the new oil exploration efforts or if new partners are being eyed.
A 2013 United States Energy Information Administration report claimed Recto Bank could hold up to 5.4 billion barrels of oil and 55.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The Arroyo administration approved a joint exploration deal among Philippine, Chinese, and Vietnamese firms in the South China Sea in 2005, which the Supreme Court ruled was unconstitutional.
In 2018, Manila signed an agreement with Beijing to cooperate on oil and gas development as a way to benefit from the resources in the waterway while setting aside the territorial dispute.
The Philippines, however, announced in June 2022 it terminated talks with China for the joint energy project after then President Rodrigo Duterte ordered an end to negotiations.
“We got as far as it is constitutionally possible to go,” Duterte’s then Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin said in explaining the decision to terminate discussions with Beijing.
“Three years on and we had not achieved our objective of developing oil and gas resources so critical for the Philippines—but not at the price of sovereignty; not even a particle of it.”
In January, Mr. Marcos told Chinese President Xi Jinping negotiations for joint oil and gas explorations would resume, but Beijing’s continued aggressive actions in the WPS have made it difficult to restart the talks.
Earlier, former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said approving oil exploration in Recto Bank – said to be rich in oil and gas deposits – will be a “litmus test” for the administration.
Carpio said the output of the Malampaya gas field, which supplies at least 40 percent of the energy requirement of Luzon, is dwindling.
Mr. Marcos in May signed an agreement extending the production contract for the Malampaya natural gas block by 15 years and allowing the operator to drill new wells as it seeks to boost output.