Martial Law and oil in Sulu and Mindanao

ExxonMobil, a giant oil firm, is digging for oil off Sulu sea. The international company just invested US$100 million to look for oil in the 8,620 hectares off the Sulu sea. Exxon partnered with Mitra energy to "dig for oil" which analysts estimate to have between 750 million to 1 billion barrels worth of that precious black gold.

Mobil has a contract to drill oil in the Sandakan basin, a few kilometers away from Brunei. The oil giant started drilling last October to depths as deep as 3,000 meters. Exxon probably finished drilling already since based on their plan, drilling would have finished by the last week of November.

Energy officials are bullish about this since this will reportedly solve the energy requirements of the Philippines for the next seven years. However, we all know what will happen to these millions of barrels worth of oil--it will be sold abroad and like the Malampaya project, will benefit other countries other than the Philippines. 

What is significant though is this project will confirm earlier predictions that the Sulu sea and the area called the "Spratlys" do possess billions and billions of barrels worth of oil. Some oil experts even believe that Mindanao itself is sitting on a gold mine. That certain areas of the region might hold rich deposits of coal, oil and even probably gold. Most of Mindanao are still "unexplored" territory.

If these oil speculators strike gold, then, this would have very serious security implications in Mindanao. It would definitely affect the lives of millions of Bangsamoros since unscrupulous and greedy speculators would definitely flock to Mindanao to find for oil, gold and other precious metals and minerals.

The issue of security will definitely be a major concern. ExxonMobil is an American company and with this issue of security, this definitely entails additional security from the US military. But, how do to it when the VFA disallows it?

That's why the government tinkered with martial law.