FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Sunday said “no other country” wants to conduct joint oil exploration with the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea (WPS or South China Sea) except China.

Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo had said the Duterte administration was entering into the deal with China because the disputed territory between the two countries has a rich potential for mineral and oil resources.

“Actually, no other country is interested. That is the only legally acceptable reason. I asked the US undersecretary of Energy,” Locsin said on Twitter in reaction to Panelo’s pronouncement.





“Small pickings, she said of PH (Philippines) prospects. Otherwise, we can’t pick and choose other than the best offer even if American,” he said.

“We cannot legally enter into joint development within our EEZ (exclusive economic zone) other than on arms-length basis on terms better than offered by others. Never, because the terms are offered by China take it or leave it. That would be sovereign surrender. Period,” he added.

When a netizen asked why China would agree to a joint exploration when it took the WPS unchallenged, Locsin said, “Well, it is within our EEZ.”

“And China doesn’t like to make enemies when it doesn’t have to. China has more oil and gas in its mainland than you can shake a dividing rod at,” he tweeted.

Last week, the President said he would push the “exploitation of natural resources” in the WPS in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping this month. Duterte said he was amenable to a 60-40 sharing deal in Manila’s favor.

The Philippines signed 29 bilateral deals with Beijing, including the joint gas exploration, when Xi visited Manila in 2018.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto earlier said there was urgency in the country’s search for energy independence.

“The Malampaya field off Palawan could run out of natural gas by 2024. This specter of energy starvation is what should drive the renewed hunt for new gas and oil fields within our seas,” he said.

Malampaya supplies 40 to 50 percent of the energy needs of Luzon.

“The West Philippine Sea is our fuel and fish depot. It is our principal source of protein and power. However, we cannot deny the cruel reality that our country is facing a huge barrier, or a great wall, in accessing these,” Recto said.

Arbitral ruling

Also on Sunday, Malacañang said Duterte would still raise the arbitral court’s ruling on the West Philippine Sea with his Chinese counterpart later this month despite the statement of Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua that China will not change its stand in rejecting the ruling.

“That is the position and right of China not to budge on their position, in the same way that it is our right not to budge in ours. That’s the way it is,” Panelo said.

“But that will not stop the President from raising the issue of the arbitral ruling,” he added.

“There is nothing wrong with the President raising the issue. What’s the matter if he says, ‘By the way, what are we going to do with the ruling by the international court? I know you don’t recognize it, but we can talk about it, maybe we can do something about it,’” the Palace official noted.

In 2016, a United Nations-backed arbitral tribunal ruled that China had no legal basis to claim historic rights to areas within its “nine-dash line.” However, Duterte refused to invoke the ruling, saying it was not yet time to raise the issue.

BERNADETTE E. TAMAYO AND GLEE JALEA