President determined to defend territories

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday said the Philippines would not compromise its territorial integrity even if it enters into an agreement with China to jointly explore the resources of the disputed South China Sea.

The issue was raised after the China National Offshore Oil Corp. announced a significant oilfield discovery in the South China Sea with an estimated volume of 100 million tons.

“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 told the media.

“So that is going to be the main principle behind any kind of talks that we might have. So depending on 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.

The Philippines and China originally planned to explore oil and gas assets in the South China Sea in 2018.

A year later, former president Rodrigo Duterte said his counterpart, Chinese President Xi Jinping, agreed to consider a 60-40 scheme on oil and gas exploration in favor of Manila should the country set aside the arbitral ruling on the disputed territory.

Before his term ended, the Duterte administration terminated discussions on the matter citing “constitutional limitations.” In his previous state visit to China, Marcos told Beijing that Manila is ready to restart negotiations on the joint