Chinese control of PH oil and gas reserves
Beneath the accusations of colossal corruption now thrown about between the two opposing political camps that may face their ultimate Armageddon in 2028 are rat-infested labyrinthine tunnels of immeasurable variables. These unquantifiable betas could spell the difference between our hard-fought democracy or a surrender to a hostile superpower.
The questions of patriotism, betrayal, and subjugation have surfaced before, albeit too briefly. While it divided lawmakers between those who support China’s long-term designs and those aligned with the government’s efforts at diplomacy and appeasement, that fragile picket fence differentiation soon toppled.
Disunity quickly reincarnated. The China issue gave way to divisiveness regarding the impeachment of a major contender for 2028. That also was merely an episode. Set aside for February 2026, like a game of political whack-a-mole, when one issue sinks beneath the surface three others rise in its place.
In terms of comparative costs alone, the impeachment offensive spawned from budgeted confidential funds at the Department of Education cannot compare to the mind-boggling multibillions outrightly stolen by our highest public officials.
When the public realized how these were rechanneled to shameless lifestyles, war chests, and coffers in preparation for 2028, righteous indignation finally forced thousands into the streets. This time corruption was not only popularized for numbed nontaxpayers, but these were concretized by literal mountains of money, fleets of aircraft, shameless car collections, multiple residences here and in extradition havens.
Within 2025’s last weeks, with the unexpected surfacing of a self-labeled whistleblower claiming to have delivered billions to a prospective 2028 presidential candidate on the virtual eve of the scheduled 2026 second-round of impeachment initiatives, there appears to be an attempt to lasso-in the current infrastructure corruption controversies around the necks of political adversaries whose undeniable popularity presents an existential threat.
Invariably, this resurrects the pro-China debate among presidential protagonists since foreign policy pivots, and our geopolitical posture depends primarily on the policies determined by whoever sits as president in 2028.
Like a bad penny, it is West Philippine Sea redux. The Chinese control of our WPS assets is especially important given the National Security Strategy of the United States that essentially says allies need to independently share security burdens.
A result of social media’s myopic TikTok mentality and the inability of mainstream media to delve deeper than issues that sell newspapers and online column spaces, the control of the WPS has been limited to obvious subcutaneous reportage. One, protecting the livelihood of our fisherfolk; two, ensuring freedom of navigation, the supply of troops aboard a decrepit landing barge; and three, the weekly attacks on the Philippine Coast Guard or civilian charters performing tasks properly the responsibility of government supply chains.
Matters on our geopolitical macroeconomy are merely footnoted. Worse, often easily forgotten, are past and present officials who have co-opted a hostile hegemon and its insidious economic incarnations.
In the WPS, the shadowy specter of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), a Chinese Communist Party-controlled monster corporation, has constantly slithered under issues of sovereignty, control, and our exploration of Philippine exclusive economic and patrimonial wealth through officials’ sponsorships.
In the mid-2000s, as the administration was privatizing the operational control of our nationwide electrical transmission assets to a state-owned Chinese corporation and while attempting to surrender our critical national broadcast network to China’s Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation, an appointee heading our national oil exploration initiatives actively negotiated with CNOOC for a lopsided undertaking that compromised the control, exploration, and control of our WPS oil and gas reserves—patrimonial wealth that China insists is theirs.
Under the Duterte administration, following a policy pivot toward China, a memorandum of understanding was signed that nominated the CNOOC to a strategic role in exploiting WPS oil and gas assets both under the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone and in non-EEZ waters beyond.
Worsening matters, Duterte appointees surrendered equity and operational control of a service contract covering our deepwater Camago-Malampaya gas reserves to a private company with previous linkages to China’s CNOOC.
While the Philippine bamboo is resilient enough to survive even the strongest typhoons, what will break it is internal and hidden rot.
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Dean de la Paz is a former investment banker and economics professor.
