By The Straits Times | Created at 2026-08-14 10:56:53 | Updated at 2026-08-14 11:43:57
53 minutes ago
MANILA – A joint oil and gas exploration deal with Beijing in the South China Sea is a “distinct possibility”, said Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, but added that he could not give a timetable.
Both nations still need to settle the shape of the potential agreement, he said.
“Like any joint venture, G2G (government-to-government), or if it is purely commercial, you have to define between yourselves, between the parties, the terms of reference. That’s what we are doing now, and we’re working through them, and we’re making progress,” he said.
Marcos was responding to a question on the South China Sea at a luncheon held on Aug 14 by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines and attended by roughly 200 people, including reporters, diplomats and business executives.
Discussions on joint oil and gas exploration between Manila and Beijing have continued for years, but he said it acquired urgency this year given the oil supply shock caused by the Iran war which pushed the Philippines into a national energy emergency.
“We have to find new ways,” Marcos said of sourcing fuel for the Philippines.
Asked if a joint venture could be concluded before he leaves office in 2028, Marcos could not offer a timeline.
“That depends on how the discussions go. I think the sense that I get is that all parties involved want it to succeed,” he said. “I could not give you a definite timetable, I’m afraid.”
In 2018, Manila and Beijing signed a memorandum on oil and gas cooperation under Marcos’ predecessor Rodrigo Duterte. But the talks were scrapped in June 2022
over unresolved sovereignty questions, as the Philippine Constitution mandates the state to maintain full control and supervision over the exploration of natural resources.
Marcos and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to revive
talks on joint oil and gas exploration
at a 2023 summit, with no visible result. The question returned in March, when Marcos told Bloomberg the war in Iran and the resulting supply shock could supply the impetus for a breakthrough.
Joint Philippine-Chinese development of Reed Bank
,
roughly 85 nautical miles west of the western island province of Palawan,
has
been proposed, and repeatedly abandoned, since 2018
.
Reed Bank is in the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone but also claimed by Beijing. It is believed to hold gas that could offset the depletion of the Philippines’ Malampaya field, which supplies about 20 to 40 per cent of the electricity supply of the main island of Luzon.
Defending provisional understanding over Second Thomas shoal
Marcos also defended the provisional understanding with China governing resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre, the World War II-era warship deliberately grounded at Second Thomas Shoal, which serves as the Philippines’ remotest military outpost in the South China Sea.
Manila and Beijing have competing claims over the contested waterway, and tense encounters have occurred near the shoal over the years.
Marcos said the provisional understanding does not weaken the Philippines’ position in the South China Sea dispute. “These arrangements that we make are to prevent any kind of miscalculation, mistake that might lead to even greater tension and hopefully not conflict,” he said.
Before each mission, he said, the Philippines issues a notice of maritime movements addressed to every vessel in the disputed waters rather than to any one country.
“Nothing of that has been weakened in any way, shape, or form,” he said.
No 2028 successor yet
On his succession, Marcos confirmed that he will back someone in the 2028 presidential polls but has not named anyone for now. He has to step down by 2028 as he can serve only one term as president under the Philippines Constitution.
So far, only his former ally, Vice-President Sara Duterte, has thrown her hat in the ring.
She announced her bid in February, just three months before the House impeached her over allegations of corruption and for threatening to kill the president, First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos and former House speaker Martin Romualdez, Marcos’ cousin.
Her impeachment trial is ongoing in the Senate. Several graft and corruption cases have since been filed against senators known to be allies of Duterte, though Marcos denied state power is being used to target them.
Marcos said he wants his successor to continue his drive against corruption, which he described as “not a Filipino problem (but) a human problem”.
“I will endorse somebody who I am confident will continue what we have begun in terms of the anti-corruption measures,” he said.
