PH to pursue talks with China on Malampaya gas fields—Marcos
Published May 5, 2023 07:30 am
WASHINGTON, D.C.— The Philippines will continue to negotiate with China over its claims on the Malampaya natural gas fields.
President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (Photo courtesy of KJ Rosales/PPA Pool)
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. bared this as he concluded his five-day visit in Washington on Friday morning (Manila time), and said that both parties are “slowly inching towards a resolution” regarding their claims. He stressed that the only way to resolve this is to keep the communication lines open. “The only way to resolve the issues that are outstanding is to once again keep talking and to come to a consensus, to come to an agreement and to continue to negotiate," Marcos said during a forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). "It is not an easy process but the Malampaya fields, natural gas fields that lie in our, within our baselines and within our exclusive economic zone and that again is being questioned in certain cases, in certain areas by China and we continue to negotiate with them,” Marcos added. The President further said "we continue to find a way,' and that the essential roadblock to that whole process has been very simple,” the chief executive added. He said the Chinese government has been claiming particular areas where the Malampaya fields are located but these areas are already recognized as part of the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines as determined by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in its July 2016 ruling. “The nine dash line covers just about the entire West Philippine Sea. We, on the other hand, have established our baselines which have been recognized and accredited by UNCLOS and therefore there is that conflict and so what happens now especially when it comes to exploration in --- for energy --- for our energy needs are which law will apply because we say this is part of Philippine territory and therefore Philippine law should apply,” Marcos said. “It may have to come down to a compromise that will just limit that application, the application of laws maybe to the vessels that are involved in this exploration and exploitation of whatever natural gas fields we can access,” he added. The chief executive said the resolution to this issue cannot be done overnight but noted that it is just one of the suggestions both parties are looking into to resolve the issue. “There is no silver bullet where you say, we’ll do this and it’s done. As I said, we are inching slowly towards the resolution and that’s why we must be constant, we must be transparent and we must be accountable for all that we do. And I cannot see any other way to handle the problem other than that,” the President added. The Malampaya gas field is a deepwater gas-condensate reservoir, located offshore, 65 kilometers northwest of the island of Palawan.
President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (Photo courtesy of KJ Rosales/PPA Pool)
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. bared this as he concluded his five-day visit in Washington on Friday morning (Manila time), and said that both parties are “slowly inching towards a resolution” regarding their claims. He stressed that the only way to resolve this is to keep the communication lines open. “The only way to resolve the issues that are outstanding is to once again keep talking and to come to a consensus, to come to an agreement and to continue to negotiate," Marcos said during a forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). "It is not an easy process but the Malampaya fields, natural gas fields that lie in our, within our baselines and within our exclusive economic zone and that again is being questioned in certain cases, in certain areas by China and we continue to negotiate with them,” Marcos added. The President further said "we continue to find a way,' and that the essential roadblock to that whole process has been very simple,” the chief executive added. He said the Chinese government has been claiming particular areas where the Malampaya fields are located but these areas are already recognized as part of the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines as determined by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in its July 2016 ruling. “The nine dash line covers just about the entire West Philippine Sea. We, on the other hand, have established our baselines which have been recognized and accredited by UNCLOS and therefore there is that conflict and so what happens now especially when it comes to exploration in --- for energy --- for our energy needs are which law will apply because we say this is part of Philippine territory and therefore Philippine law should apply,” Marcos said. “It may have to come down to a compromise that will just limit that application, the application of laws maybe to the vessels that are involved in this exploration and exploitation of whatever natural gas fields we can access,” he added. The chief executive said the resolution to this issue cannot be done overnight but noted that it is just one of the suggestions both parties are looking into to resolve the issue. “There is no silver bullet where you say, we’ll do this and it’s done. As I said, we are inching slowly towards the resolution and that’s why we must be constant, we must be transparent and we must be accountable for all that we do. And I cannot see any other way to handle the problem other than that,” the President added. The Malampaya gas field is a deepwater gas-condensate reservoir, located offshore, 65 kilometers northwest of the island of Palawan.