First word
IN my previous column, 'How PH presidents defended or sold the nation's rights in the West Philippine Sea' (TMT, Oct. 24, 2024), I left out from the discussion how President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approached the challenge of defending the Philippines' national interest and sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea (which the Philippines officially calls the West Philippine Sea).
The Marcos government has emphatically swerved away from the foreign and security policy of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who made close ties with China the hallmark of his foreign and security policy, particularly in the South China Sea (SCS) dispute between China and Asean claimant states, including the Philippines.
President Marcos highlighted the difference of his approach from those of previous Filipino presidents by adopting two major policy changes:
First, two months after his accession to office, he announced to the nation and the world that the Philippines would explore for oil and gas in its exclusive economic zone in the SCS.
Second, early in 2023, the Marcos government announced that it had granted US proposals for expanded access to Philippine military bases under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). Soon after, it agreed to add four more sites to the five earlier granted under EDCA, which allows for the rotation of US military ships and aircraft at mutually agreed bases.
These decisions underscore an explicit policy change from his predecessor President Duterte's declaration of explicit independence and distancing from the United States in his foreign policy. In several visits to Beijing, Duterte kowtowed to China's claim of the entire South China Sea, and its persistent encroachments on the exclusive zones of Asean claimants in the waterway, including that of the Philippines.

Going for WPS oil, deal or no deal with China