Concealed by the flag-waving histrionics of Antonio Carpio and Albert del Rosario is a classic case of oligarchic rule. What triggered the Aquino 3rd regime’s conflict with the Chinese that led to the unprecedented Philippine arbitration suit against China and which sustains the Sinophobic campaign in the country was the ambitious, rushed project of three tycoons and their companies to become energy giants in a few years. The project was the extraction of natural gas from the Sampaguita Gas Field in the Reed (Recto) Bank in the Spratly (Kalayaan Islands). That Sampaguita field was estimated in 2005 to have as much as the gas deposits of the Malampaya well off Palawan, which has provided a fifth of the country’s energy requirements since 2002.

Tiglao, R. D. (2021, May 10). Salim (aka MVP) Razon, Ongpin's project behind Aquino's discord with China: Part 1: Has Carpio been their lawyer?. The Manila Times, pp. A1, A5.