MANILA, Philippines – SINABI ni Pangulong Bongbong Marcos Jr. na patuloy na maghahanap ang Pilipinas ng “non-traditional sources” ng petroleum products kahit pa lumagda ng kasunduan ang Estados Unidos at Iran na magtatapos sa kanilang labanan.
Sa pagsasalita sa mga mamamahayag sa Kazan, Russia, sinabi ni Pangulong Marcos na “even if the war does come to an end, we, Philippines, will still continue to look for so-called non-traditional partners in terms of the supply of petroleum products.”
Nabanggit naman ang energy security sa bilateral meeting ni Pangulong Marcos kasama si Russian President Vladimir Putin at sa isinagawang ASEAN-Russia Commemorative Summit sa Kazan, kung saan kapuwa naging co-chair sina Pangulong Marcos at Putin.
Iyon nga lamang, sinabi ni Pangulong Marcos na “there have been no firm agreements, but merely an understanding that we will continue to develop what we had already started as a response to the oil crisis that was the effect of the war in the Middle East, which we are hoping will come to an end soon.”
Isiniwalat din ng Pangulo na bukas ang Russian Federation na itaas ang pagbebenta nito ng petroleum products sa Pilipinas.
“The reason being is that what we have been doing with Russia in terms of providing oil products to the Philippines has been on a very ad hoc basis,” ayon sa Pangulo.
“Because kung ano’ng — because noong pumutok ‘yung giyera, eh basta kung saan kayo makakuha, kung saan makakuha. Basta’t tingnan ninyo, basta’t kausapin ninyo lahat. Maghanap tayo ng makukunan natin ng petroleum products. One of those places was Russia,” ang paliwanag nito.
Isiniwalat din ng Pangulo na nagsisimula na ang Pilipinas na maglagay ng sistema para rito at “it will be very good for the Philippines to have another assured lifeline when it comes to petroleum products.”
At nang tanungin kung nangangahulugan ito na ang Pilipinas ay regular na kukuha ng petroleum products mula sa Russia, sinabi ni Pangulong Marcos na hindi pa ito napagdedesisyunan.
“There are many complications to that. It is not that simple as signing a trade agreement. There are, of course, political considerations, geopolitical considerations,” ang winika ng Pangulo.
“But when two parties are determined to make it work, I’m always very confident that it will work and we will find a way around those challenges and those complications so that we make it a reality,” aniya. (Kris Jose)
