President Marcos plans to propose to Japanese officials during his upcoming state visit the exploration of alternative sources of petroleum products, noting that the impacts of the conflict in the Middle East should not be repeated if another crisis arises in the future.

Asked during a roundtable with Japanese media on Monday, May 18, what his expectations are in making a state visit to Japan next week, particularly in the are of energy cooperation.

Marcos said he will try to engage Japan on energy supply, citing the ongoing Middle East conflict that has hampered oil shipments to the Philippines.

"I think that is what I will propose when I get to Japan is that let us not wait for it to happen again," he said.

"Let us assume that such a thing will happen again. It may not be exactly the same thing, I don't think, but certainly there will be aspects of it that will be similar to what we are facing now. So we have to find ways to prepare for that," he added.

The President said the ongoing crisis underscored the need to explore alternative options rather than relying solely on supplies passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

He further said that the energy situation at present "is very much like the pandemic," which will prompt various changes, such as how people work and do business, as well as in supply chains.

"I don't think that we will go back to the old system where the majority of the petroleum products that are coming out of the Strait of Hormuz are going to Asia," he said.

"I think Asia is going to start looking for alternative measures in case this happens again, in case, for whatever reason, maybe not Strait of Hormuz but somewhere else, and the supply and delivery of petroleum products become, again, become disturbed and we cannot find – we find again that we're going to have to start looking for, shall we say, non-traditional sources," he added.

He cited that the Philippines, in an attempt to cushion the effects of the crisis, had returned to some methods of energy production it had already moved away from, specifically coal.

"And coal is something that we have, that is cheap and that is well understood. However, it is not environmentally friendly. And so we were already moving away from that," he said.

"However, with this happening in the Middle East, at this point, we say anything that can provide us with power, with energy, we will take it up again. So we have to change some of the rules and go back to the old ways of producing power, coal being one of them. But again, that's in the short term," the President stressed.

Marcos also expressed gratitude to Japan for assisting the Philippines in trying to find different solutions for the supply of the different kinds of fuel.

The Chief Executive is expected to fly to Japan on May 26 for a state visit.