Marcos: PH resetting ties with China amid Middle East conflict

''It's happening now.''

This was the response of President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. when asked if there's a reason to think that there is a need to reset ties with China amid the Middle East conflict.

''I think it's certainly going to happen. I don't think that's something that we can, that is like an option. It's happening now,'' Marcos said in an interview with Bloomberg. 

''There's going to be a very, very serious restructuring. I remember I was watching Prime Minister Wong from Singapore and he was saying there will be, we will have to withdraw, redraw, all of our, even our legal relationships in terms of international law, in terms of all of these things,'' Marcos said. 

Marcos said there would be a lasting effect amid this tension, noting that there will have to be the "new normal."

Tensions continue as Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual shipborne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Parts of the South China Sea that fall within Philippine territory have been renamed by the government as the West Philippine Sea to reinforce the country’s claim. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines over China's claims in the South China Sea, saying that it had "no legal basis."

China has refused to recognize the decision.

Marcos, meanwhile, has declared a state of national energy emergency and ordered the adoption of a Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food, and Transport (UPLIFT) for affected sectors.

Marcos signed Executive Order No. 110, declaring a state of national energy emergency and adopting UPLIFT, thereby activating a whole-of-government response to ensure energy supply stability, support key sectors such as transport, agriculture, and MSMEs, and protect Filipinos amid global oil supply disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict.

Marcos made the declaration as diesel prices are expected to spike to more than P130 per liter, while gasoline may rise above P100 per liter this week as the series of mega oil price hikes due to the Middle East conflict enters its third week. —VAL, GMA Integrated News