President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. on Sunday, Dec. 17, said the government is working to resolve issues in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in order for the country to begin new energy exploration projects amidst the “deadlock” energy supply.

In a press release from the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), Marcos told Japanese reporters that the country’s energy supply is presently “at a deadlock” status.

“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,” the President said as quoted by the PCO.

Marcos stood that the WPS is clearly within the Philippine exclusive economic zone, hence it “is not in a conflict area.”

The President, according to the PCO, noted that the liquified natural gas is now considered important as the country slowly transitions to renewable energy.

“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 added.