(Eagle News)–Senator Ralph Recto has hailed the memorandum of agreement on oil development between the Philippines and China.
In a statement, Recto noted that Chief Justice Antonio Carpio and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto del Rosario have said that our interests are “safe” and that “nothing is being given away” by the Philippines in the agreement.
“This seal of a good agreement from two eminent experts bodes well for the eventual forging of a constitutionally-compliant venture that is economically beneficial to us,” Recto said.
Recto noted there was an “urgency in our search for energy independence.”
“The Malampaya field off Palawan could run out of natural gas by 2024. This spectre of energy starvation is what should drive the renewed hunt for new gas and oil fields within our seas,” he said, noting that Malampaya supplies 40% to 50% of the energy needs of Luzon, the world’s 4th most populous island where 58 million live.
“It is not easy to walk on this tightrope, of cooperating with another nation and contesting some of its actions at the same time. We are caught between a dark future and a powerful force,” he said.