Marcos: Sovereignty the main principle in joint exploration talks

PRAGUE—Sovereignty will always be at play if the Philippines will have discussions as regards joint exploration for resources, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said on Friday.

Thus, Marcos said when asked if the Philippines planned to revive joint oil exploration with China after the China National Offshore Oil Corporation discovered an oil field with a volume of 100 million tons in the South China Sea.

”Well, look, once again the sovereignty and the sovereign rights and our territorial jurisdictions remains a key in all of these talks and we cannot, we cannot at any point somehow compromise the territorial integrity of the Philippines,” Marcos said.

”So that is going to be the main principle behind any kind of talks that we might have. So depending on the areas that we are talking about, that will come into play. So let me leave it at that. That is the guiding principle that I’m following whenever it comes to all of these things,” he added. 

Last month, China’s embassy in Manila said that Beijing’s position on the joint development of oil and gas with the Philippines remains unchanged. 

In November 2018, the Philippines and China signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish an intergovernmental joint steering committee for potential energy cooperation.

However, during the last months of the Duterte administration in 2022, the Philippines terminated discussions with China, citing constitutional constraints and sovereignty issues.

In 2023, Marcos said legal issues need to be discussed as regards the proposed joint oil and gas exploration with China in the South China Sea. —NB, GMA Integrated News