A member of the House Committee on Energy urged the Aquino government yesterday to build a strong naval base in northwest Palawan, to protect the Philippine claim to natural gas resources in the West Philippine Sea only 80 nautical miles northwest of Palawan.
“This is one of the compelling reasons why we have to secure our 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone and its contiguous area, including the seabed of the continental shelf up to 350 miles from the national coastal baseline,” House Deputy Minority Leader and LPGMA Rep. Arnel Ty said,
Ty stressed the need to defend the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone from all foreign threats. “In fact, we should invest in new warships, including frigates, missile gunboats, and fast attack craft, for deployment in the zone. We should build a strong naval base in northwest Palawan,” he declared.
On the potentials of the natural gas resources in the area, Ty said, “We only need to harness three more Malampaya-like fields to power up the whole country. And we’ve already discovered one of the three,” he said, referring to the Recto Bank’s Sampaguita field, which is estimated to contain up to 4.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
“It is just a question of exploring some more to ascertain where best to drill and draw out the greatest amount of gas,” Ty said.
These natural gas resources, he said, would mean billions of pesos earned saved in royalties, energy security, and economic stability for the country. “We also need a cleaner source of power. We have to rely more on natural gas, and less on coal and oil to produce the bulk of our electricity,” Ty said.
Ty cited a Department of Energy report that some 34.4 percent of the country’s dependable power generating capacity is now produced from coal, 19.07 percent from hydro resources, 17.66 percent from natural gas, 17.30 percent from oil (diesel and fuel oil), 10.28 percent from geothermal, and 1.29 percent from biomass, biodiesel, solar, and wind.
“Among fossil fuels, natural gas contains the least carbon dioxide and burns more efficiently,” Ty pointed out.
“Malampaya’s natural gas has displaced around 1.35 million kilograms of carbon dioxide per hour that otherwise would be polluting our air,” Ty said. Developed in 2002, the Malampaya gas field in northwest Palawan has proven reserves of about 3.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, he said.
The Philippine government has also received over P208 billion in royalties from Malampaya, as of March 2015.
PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP
“At the end of the day, security is built by friendship not by making enemies, and that’s what we do. That’s the entire basis of Pacific Partnership,” Capt. Joel Roos of the US 7th Fleet said yesterday. He is in the country as part of the Pacific Partnership 2015 (PP15), the largest annual multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.
The Philippine leg of PP is now on its second half, with various activities being held in Zambales and La Union. It is undertaking medical, dental, veterinary, engineering, and community relations projects, as well as seminars, training exercises, and tabletop events.
Capt. James Meyer, commodore of Task Force Forager (TFF), said Pacific Partnership not only strengthens the long-standing alliance between Philippines and the US, but also helps to enhance maritime security in the region. The Military Sealift Command on the high-speed vessel USNS Millinocket (JHSV 3) is now docked in San Fernando City, La Union.
Meyer said Pacific Partnership is about disaster preparedness and humanitarian assistance and preparing for such events. The long-standing alliance between the Philippines and the United States has contributed to peace, stability, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region for many years and the PP mission will continue to strengthen the two nations’ partnership, he said.
Capt. Alberto Mogol, commander of Naval Task Force 11 of the Philippine Navy (PN), said that through PP program of training and exercises, “we can be assured that we can be ready to plan, train, and conduct humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations in accordance with international standards.”
Unlike other bilateral PH-US exercises such as the Balikatan, which is a military-to-military activity, PP involves other government agencies. “Other agencies are also involved like the Department of Health and the Department of Education, which will benefit from the school buildings that we will build,” said Mogol.
PP15 supporting partners include Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Canada, Timor Leste, Fiji, and France. Particicipating non-government organizations are Project Hope, Operation Smile, Latter Day Saints Charities, University of California at San Diego, University of Virginia, University of Hawaii, Project Handclasp, and World Vets.
http://www.mb.com.ph/palawan-naval-base-proposed-to-protect-ph-claim-to-gas-rich-area/
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