MANILA (UPDATE) –– President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Thursday said the country needed to find ways to explore for oil in the South China Sea other than government-to-government talks with Beijing, whose sweeping claims to the waterway serve as a "roadblock" in reaching a deal.

"I think there might be other ways para hindi gawing G2G (government-to-government) or I don’t know. We’ll have to find a way kasi kailangan na natin eh. We already need––kung may mahanap diyan, kailangan na talaga ng Pilipinas,” Marcos told reporters.

"‘Yung China, hindi ba, maliit na bagay sa kanila ‘yun. Sa atin, malaking bagay ‘yan. So kailangan talaga natin ipaglaban at mapakinabangan kung mayroon mang oil talaga," he added.

(I think there might be other ways so that it's not government-to-government. We'll have to find a way because we already need it. It's a small thing for China. For us, it's a big thing, and that is why we need to fight for it and benefit if there is really oil there.)

The Duterte administration had canceled talks on oil and gas exploration with China, citing constitutional limits.

• Chinese minister says hopes to resume joint oil, gas exploration talks with PH

"Ang talagang nangyari dyan is kine-claim ng China kanila yun, eh atin naman talaga yan. So sinasabi namin, sinasabi ng Pilipinas, basta yung batas kailangan masundan yung sa Pilipinas. Ang sinasabi naman ng Chinese, hindi, amin yan e kaya ang sundan is Chinese," Marcos said.

"Kaya yun talaga ang roadblock doon. Mahirap makita kung paano natin aayusin yun," he added.

(What happened there is China claimed it is theirs when in fact it is ours. The Philippines says our law should be followed. The Chinese said, no, it's ours, so Chinese laws should be upheld. That is the roadblock there. It's difficult to see how we will fix that.)

• Beijing, Manila need new ideas to manage South China Sea differences: experts

In August, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said the Philippines was willing to reopen joint exploration talks with China, "guided by our laws and our constitution."

• DFA: PH willing to reopen talks with China on joint oil and gas exploration in WPS

Beijing has ignored a 2016 ruling by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration that its historical claim to almost the entire South China Sea lacked basis. China reinforced its stance by building artificial islands over some contested reefs and installing weapons on them.

Marcos earlier said the Philippines would use the Hague ruling "to continue to assert our territorial rights."

In October, he said the government would revive the oil drilling operations of Nido Petroleum Philippines in Palawan, as petroleum prices rose.

He added that the Cadlao oil field could lead to "early oil production towards the second half of 2023." He noted that the area last produced oil in the 1990s "with over 11 million barrels."

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