Philippines eyes energy exploration projects in South China Sea

MANILA - President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the Philippines is working to resolve the issue in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) despite Chinese aggression against Filipino vessels and fishermen in an effort to start new energy exploration projects before the Malampaya gas field starts to run out of supply.

 “We are still at a deadlock right now. It is in a conflict area. So, that’s another thing that we have to try and resolve to see what role any countries play,” President Marcos said in an interview with Japanese media when asked about the current issue in the maritime region and the Malampaya gas field.

“It’s still of course the position of the Philippines that this is not in a conflict area. This is very clearly within our EEZ (exclusive economic zone)… within our baselines, within the maritime territory, the Philippines,” he added.

According to Marcos, the Philippines has been in negotiation with China for over three years now, but admitted that very little progress has been made with regard to the talks. He noted the supply of liquified natural gas (LNG) is becoming more and more important to the Philippines, particularly as it transitions to renewable energy.

“We are seeing LNG as being the transition between purely fossil fuel, coal, to the more bigger mix of renewables. But this — the move to renewables, I think we are all discovering -- is not as easy as we had hoped and so we need a transition period to give ourselves time to bring the infrastructure and to allow the technologies to develop,” he said.

Some of the new technologies are still being piloted so the country has to wait for them to be rolled out on a commercial basis and that will take a little time for the country’s transition to clean energy, according to Marcos.

The Philippines has to secure sufficient fuel supply especially with all the plans for development that the administration has for growth of the economy. “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, are…. power and even the lack of supply,” Marcos said.

“So, that is what we — that is what we’ll be working on. So, that’s why LNG has become more and more important and so it’s imperative for the Philippines to find a way to move the process forward so as to be able to assure ourselves of that transition — the fuel supply during that transition period,” he added.

No way

Early this year, Benar News reported that the Philippines and China will hold “preparatory talks” on joint oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea, amid a territorial dispute and despite the Philippine Supreme Court ruling such activities unconstitutional.

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Enrique Manalo was quoted as saying the government would issue updates on the joint plan, after Sen. Francis Tolentino questioned the energy cooperation plan with China announced in January.

Tolentino, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, cautioned against the plan, noting that an international arbitration tribunal in 2016 had ruled in favor of Manila over Beijing’s expansive claims in the mineral-rich sea region.

Additionally, the Philippine Supreme Court, in a decision in January, declared that a 2005 agreement among the Philippines, China and Vietnam – another party in the South China Sea dispute – was unconstitutional because it allowed foreign corporations to prospect for natural resources belonging to the Filipino people without proper safeguards. 

“I believe that in the negotiations with the People’s Republic of China, the DFA must consider the decision of the Supreme Court and take into consideration what is embodied in our Constitution, that we have the right in our exclusive economic zone,” Tolentino said.

He said that any new agreement between the Philippines and China should comply with the provisions enshrined under the country’s charter, noting that exploitation of natural resources are exclusively given only to Filipinos. “So they should keep in mind the protection of our exclusive economic zone – the 200 nautical miles from the baseline – and the decision of the Supreme Court,” he said.

Tolentino said he was hesitant about the new plans, considering that China has not stopped harassment by the China Coast Guard against the Philippine Coast Guard patrolling the nation’s coastline.

“There may be more [Chinese ships] because they can say they now have the right to drill, to conduct scientific marine research, that is why the Department of Foreign Affairs must proceed with caution, lest they increase their presence there,” Tolentino warned.

Under former President Rodrigo Duterte, Manila and Beijing in 2018 signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on Oil and Gas Development.

Duterte eventually terminated the talks after both sides failed to resolve the issue of sovereignty over Reed Bank, the proposed exploration site, because of Beijing’s claims that overlap with Manila’s in the South China Sea.

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea on historical grounds, including waters within the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan. (Mindanao Examiner)