Dispute on territorial waters remains in a deadlock, says Bongbong Marcos

TOKYO, Japan — The situation in the West Philippine Sea is in a deadlock, said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. 

In an interview with Japanese media on Saturday evening, Marcos said that the years long territorial dispute was still at an impasse. 

“We are still at a deadlock right now. It is in a conflict area. So, that’s another thing that we have to try and resolve to see what role any countries play,” Marcos said. 

The President was asked about joint explorations in the West Philippine Sea and the Malampaya gas field. 

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Marcos, who had been pushing for renewable energy amid rising oil prices, admitted that the conversion was not easy. 

“But this — the move to renewables, I think we are all discovering  is not as easy as we had hoped and so we need a transition period to give ourselves time to bring the infrastructure and to allow the technologies to develop,” he said. 

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“It’s imperative for the Philippines to find a way to move the process forward so as to be able to assure ourselves of that transition — the fuel supply during that transition period, he stated,” he added.