In addition to rich fishing grounds the West Philippine Sea has the economic potential to sustain our country’s future… The focus of most attention regarding the area’s resources has been on hydrocarbons, especially oil… Oil reserve estimates on the region vary... One Chinese estimate suggests potential oil resources as high as 213 billion barrels of oil (Amounting to more than 22 trillion dollars, 2013 rate)... A 1993/1994 estimate by the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the sum total of discovered reserves and undiscovered resources in the offshore basins at 28 billion barrels of oil (about 3 trillion dollars 2013 rate)… One of the more moderate Chinese estimates suggested that potential oil resources (not proved reserves) of the Spratlys and Paracel Islands could be as high as 105 billion barrels of oil (about 11 trillion dollars, 2013 rate)... (Note price per barrel of oil, 2013 rate about 105 dollars per barrel)
Natural gas might be the most abundant hydrocarbon resource... Most of the hydrocarbon fields explored in the regions of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines contain natural gas, not oil… Estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey and others indicate that about 60 to 70 percent of the region's hydrocarbon resources are natural gas… One Chinese estimate for the entire area for natural gas reserves is said to be 2 quadrillion cubic feet… Another Chinese report estimates 225 billion barrels of oil equivalent in the Spratly Islands alone… If 70 percent of these hydrocarbons are gas as some studies suggest, total gas resources would be almost 900 trillion cubic feet... In April 2006, Husky Energy working with the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation announced a find of proven natural gas reserves of nearly 4 to 6 trillion cubic feet near the Spratly Islands…
With such potential resources, our country can greatly benefit from it and provide economic security for the future generation… Our powerful neighbor from the north knows this, with natural resources on their mainland being depleted they are now looking at other areas as a new source... And they aggressively project their interests in the area (and blocking ours) by making use of political pressures and political maneuvering, backed-up by the threat of the use of military force… There is no doubt that we should pursue, focus and settle the issue peacefully by sharing the area's resources but in case a “stronger†option is needed, we must be willing to provide and support such an approach…
As the AFP finally begun initial acquisition of modern and expensive weapon systems, the political leaders must have a positive view of the cost… The defense budget hardly increased in the past several years, and more funds will be definitely needed to sustain and acquire additional modern assets… One approach is to review the percentage of the defense budget and compare it with the other countries in the Asian Region so that a realistic figure can be calculated… The end figure will definitely prove prohibitive in the eyes of many sectors but it is a reality our country must learn to accept…
In the past we made use of political protests and relied on our allies to back us up on the issue, but such measures hardly deterred the “aggressorâ€, as they got good encouragement with the knowledge that our military is weak… Note comparing to the other claimant countries with more powerful armed forces, especially Vietnam who unhesitatingly fought the Chinese in the 1980s in the area, we are being treated more badly… Our soldiers are willing to any undertaking but they must be adequately equipped to do the job… (Reference: US ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION 2008 REPORT and from the FB page of Sir Francis Karem Elazegui Neri)
