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Helen Flores - The Philippine Star
March 31, 2026 | 12:00am
The Philippines is ready with two joint oil and gas exploration agreements to be signed with China.
STAR / File
MANILA, Philippines — The Marcos administration will continue to safeguard the country’s rights in the West Philippine Sea, a Malacañang official assured Filipinos yesterday, as Manila and Beijing opened “initial exchanges” on potential offshore oil and gas exploration.
“We will always be sincere in discussions, if there’ll be any, and we will always be cautious in protecting the interest of the nation and of every Filipino,” Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro said in Filipino.
“No (Philippine) interests will be lost, and none will be given away,” she emphasized.
The Philippines and China convened back-to-back the 24th Foreign Ministry Consultations and the 11th Meeting of the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea on March 27 and 28 in Quanzhou City, in China’s Fujian province.
With current global uncertainties, especially the developments in the Middle East, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) earlier revealed discussions between Manila and Beijing on the importance of stable access to energy and fertilizers, potential cooperation in green and renewable energy, as well as in trade and agriculture.
“Both sides continued to make progress on practical measures that are consistent with Philippine law and policy to increase confidence in the maritime domain, including coast guard to coast guard communication, ocean meteorology and initial exchanges on potential oil and gas cooperation,” the DFA said in a statement.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Marcos raised the possibility that the US and Israeli war against Iran could provide an “impetus” for the Philippines and China to reach a deal in jointly developing oil and gas resources in the West Philippine Sea.
“That’s something we’ve been talking about a great deal, but territorial disputes are getting in the way of that. Maybe this provides impetus for both sides to come to an agreement. That’s something we are exploring. Everything that might be of help we are certainly pursuing,” Marcos said.
The Chinese embassy in Manila earlier said China’s “door to dialogue” on joint oil and gas development in the South China Sea remains open, but the Philippines must first “demonstrate sincerity” before negotiations can resume.
Marcos declared a state of national energy emergency last week.
China is claiming almost the entire South China Sea, ignoring the 2016 arbitral award that is based on international law.
