In a conversation with Shannon Joseph, Chair of Energy for a Secure Future, Philippine Ambassador to Canada Jose Victor V. Chan-Gonzaga expressed strong interest for deepening energy cooperation with Canada, particularly through liquefied natural gas (LNG). When directly asked if the Philippines is interested in Canadian LNG the Ambassador responded emphatically: “150 percent!”
He explained that for a fast-emerging economy like the Philippines, energy policy is a central determining factor in economic grown, rising living standards and national security. As Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has stated, economic security is equal to national security, and energy security is required for both. Reliable power is fundamental for households and for key industries such as business process outsourcing, which cannot tolerate disruptions or outages. LNG is viewed as an essential for providing dependable base load power that both complements intermittent wind and solar sources and helps reduce emissions by displacing higher emitting fuels, such as coal.
A central theme noted in the discussion was infrastructure: the Philippines is seeking partners not only for LNG supply but also for building import terminals, transmission lines, and power plants. Canadian involvement, including with direct energy supply, infrastructure investment, or technical expertise within the next five years would align perfectly with Philippine development timelines and priorities. Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga also pointed to the Luzon Economic Corridor, a major infrastructure initiative linking key ports, industrial centres, and energy hubs, as a platform for deeper cooperation with trusted partners, including Canada.
Overall, the conversation underscored mutual benefits to both nations. Canadian LNG could support the Philippines’ energy security, while bolstering bilateral ties, economic security, and global emission reductions through coal displacement in Asia.
Key Takeaways:
- Strong interest in Canadian LNG: the Philippines is highly enthusiastic (“150 percent!”) about importing Canadian LNG as a reliable, lower-emission energy solution that supports energy security, gris stability and economic growth.
- Need for partnerships beyond energy supply: collaboration is sought not just for LNG imports but critically for infrastructure development, investment and technical expertise, including terminals and transmission systems, to support the Philippines’ long-term goals.
- Energy security tied to national security: President Marcos equates economic security with national security, emphasizing that stable, affordable energy is essential for economic growth, sovereignty, and overall national stability.
Transcript
Shannon Joseph (Interviewer): So I’m very excited to welcome His Excellency, your Excellency. Victor Jose Chen Gonzaga of the Philippines, your ambassador of the Philippines to Canada, new in your role. So I was wondering to start off this conversation if you can tell us about yourself and about your role and mission here in Canada.
Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga (Interviewee): I’m the new Philippine ambassador, two months old here in Ottawa. And I actually presented my credentials to Her Excellency the Governor General only a couple of weeks ago. But Canada is not new to me. As I was telling you earlier, I used to be the director general for the Americas, as assistant secretary for the American region, when I was in Manila for the last four years. So I did cover Canada during that time. So I’m very familiar with the country. I’ve been here a few times, here in Ottawa and in other major cities of the country.
Shannon Joseph: Wonderful. Well, one of the things we wanted to talk about in particular with this conversation is energy and how energy relates to a secure future. So maybe to kick us off, can you tell us what is the energy situation in the Philippines? What types of energy are used? Tell us about the situation.
Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga: I just want to start off perhaps to contextualize and frame the discussion this afternoon by referencing what President Marcos has been saying from the very first day when he assumed office as president of the Philippines in 2022. That for him, economic security is equal to national security. And obviously when we think of economic security, energy security is high up there together probably with food security and other areas of the economy. But so in that context, we frame our perspective of energy security from the perspective of one, making sure that there is stable energy supply for the country, for businesses, for the economy, making sure also that we reduce our emissions, carbon emissions. And then just overall is really this whole notion of making sure that we drive inclusive economic growth, which is important not only for the Philippines, for Canada, but we need for the rest of the world in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, for example, of the United Nations.
Shannon Joseph: I want to go back to some of what you were talking about with the economy. What is the Philippines trying to do in terms of your economic growth? What’s the picture? What are the important industries and some of their energy needs in terms of the economy?
Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga: The Philippines has largely been essentially a services industry. And one of the important services for us is business process outsourcing, which is one of our main revenue generators as well, which is similar to what we get from our remittances of overseas Filipino workers, for example, in business process outsourcing energy. It is a very important factor, not just in terms of affordability, but in terms really of reliability and sustainability. So you can’t afford to have power failures?
Shannon Joseph: No, definitely. Definitely not. Got it. And when you look at the challenges that you want to make Philippines energy system resilient to, what are some of the top things that you’re thinking?
Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga: We want to solve these things in the context of our commitment to sustainable development and to transitioning to clean energy. I think one of the important energy challenges for us is really to be able to transition from fossil fuel, particularly from the dirty fossil fuel to eventually to renewable energy. So that’s one. The other thing is also really diversifying our sources. And I think it’s not just diversifying the sources or the types of energy that we have in the energy mix, but also diversifying the origin.
Shannon Joseph: I want to get into the role of Canada and all this. We have just as a country started to export LNG to the world, and we’re probably going to expand LNG. Is the Philippines interested in Canadian LNG?
Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga: 150 percent! No. Let me explain. I think I had mentioned earlier that we are in the process of transitioning from fossil fuel to renewable energies. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but in terms of our renewable energy plans, the what we want to be able to do is that by 2030, we should have renewable energy contribute about 35% to the total energy mix. And then by 2040, we want to put it up into 50%. And then by 2050, we hope that it will be more than it will be the majority contributor to the energy supply of the Philippines. Transitioning is not going to happen overnight, as we all know. And so the Philippines Department of Energy has always looked at LNG as a bridge fuel as a transition fuel. The discussion about the possibility of working together being supplied LNG has always been of paramount importance and of significant interest to our energy policymakers, to our energy colleagues. Just to mention also that when we speak of LNG, we’re also speaking about infrastructure development on the part of the Philippines. So we’re also in the process really of finding partners not only in terms of supplying us with LNG eventually, but also in terms of helping us build the necessary infrastructure and transmission facilities.
Shannon Joseph: And just to be clear for our audience, when you see a transition fuel, it’s not a five year transition. So what do you when the government looks out at 2050, you know, how fast this is going to be and what role does gas play in 2050?
Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga: We are really looking to be able to use LNG and to find the appropriate supply for that. And as well as building necessary infrastructure also on the Philippine side to do that transition to 2050. But I think we will look at the LNG as a good complementary source of fuel, alternate to not just to the fossil fuel that we hope to eventually wean ourselves away from, but also to renewable energy.
Shannon Joseph: So that’s a really important point. Could you speak a little bit about affordability? How important is the cost of energy for a country like the Philippines as far as the Philippines is concerned?
Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga: We always speak of what I call the five abilities affordability, accessibility, low capability. I can talk more about that. Reliability and sustainability. Affordability has always been one of the key. Number one on the list for policymakers. When we talk about diversification, when we talk about developing new sources of energy, it’s really aimed towards not only making sure there is resilient and reliable supply of energy for the needs of households, residences or establishments, but also making sure that there is affordability there.
Shannon Joseph: Let’s talk a little bit about the indigenous energy, because one of the things that I’ve read is that the Philippines has offshore gas that you might want to develop, but you haven’t been able to develop, maybe because of pressure from your neighbors. Tell us a little bit about that and how Canada can maybe take some pressure off.
Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga: So it’s a little bit of a mix. But of course, I think you’ve alluded to our problems in the West Philippine Sea. I think when you look at literature in terms of the potentials for gas exploration in the Philippines, three areas normally come out. One is Sulu Sea, which is in the southern part of the Philippines. Then there’s also the Palawan area. And then of course there’s a lot of expectation that there are also reserves in the West Philippine Sea itself. This latter one is more problematic because of the issues that we have with one of our neighbors. The issue that we have with our neighbor has prevented us from going out and doing the exploration that needs to be done in order to want to find additional reserves and to really to do the groundwork and the necessary operations in order to be able to exploit those natural resources there. Aside from that really we all know that exploration is not only capital but technology intensive. And I think there’s also we’re also still in the process of making sure that there are regulations in place for these exploration. So I think that’s also what we’re trying to work out. That’s more I think manageable because that’s we need more on our side. And obviously a lot of these requires advanced technology and more experienced international partners. And that’s what we’re looking for to the extent that there are Canadian partners out there, I hope that they listen to this and they see the possibilities. But of course unfortunately, I don’t want to really belabor or make this the controversial point about our conversation. But all of this even if there were interested partners, all of these returns to what’s happening in terms of the situation that we have with our neighbor. And I think that is also very paramount in the minds of President Marcos and of our key cabinet ministers such as my secretary, the Secretary Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of Energy, that I think it is important to manage that situation that we have right now in order to make the area not only more attractive to investors, but really also to enable partnerships to go and explore and hopefully benefit from reserves that might be found in the area.
Shannon Joseph: I think that’s really important point. And the Philippines is not the only country in the region to have some challenges or disagreements with China about the neighborhood. But I think this also points to some of the other challenges that the world has maybe experienced, because when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, suddenly Europe was scrambling for new and new energy sources, especially new gas sources, and in many cases bought up a lot of gas on the spot market. And Asia didn’t get gas. It thought it was going to get that that happen to the Philippines.
Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga: The Philippines was not directly impacted by the disruptions in terms of the natural gas supply that was coming from that particular part of the region. Much of the natural gas that we get comes actually from Australia and from Africa. That doesn’t mean to say that we were not affected by what happened there. And I think what was also unfortunate is at 2022, we remember everyone was just recovering from the disruptions brought about by the Covid pandemic the year, the couple of years before. So what’s really happened was that there were a lot of dominoes that fell there. So once of course there was scarcity in terms of gas there as well, I would assume that people were scrambling not only for gas, but for other alternative sources of energy. And so that affected really world prices. And I think also there was a lot of pressure on inflation. There’s a lot of pressure as well on just on ordinary households and on electricity prices. So that’s why I think at the end of the day as people looked at that, the experience with Covid, the experience of Ukraine crisis, I think there was the recognition about the importance of resilience. And I’m sure this is a shared experience now throughout the world that when we talk about resilience now, it’s not just about resilience in terms of affordability or sustainability, but it’s really just making sure that we’re able to respond and be able to adapt to a situation that is not only like that doesn’t happen only one time. Like for example if there is a natural disaster, but something for a situation that can be prolonged and protracted. And that’s why I think over the course of the last few years, when we speak of energy resiliency, we don’t look at it only in the context of affordability and even scarcity, but really addressing some of these issues. So that’s why again that brings us back to low probability. That’s why we’re again emphasizing the importance of indigenous energy supply, the importance of diversification, which we talked about already before. And also energy efficiency. We’re trying to maximize energy efficiency. We’re trying to mainstream energy efficiency as a matter of policy and practice today.
Shannon Joseph: If you could, you know, Canada’s moving along. We have LNG Canada shipping. We’re talking about a phase two. There are two other projects on the West Coast. What do you hope to see, let’s say, from Canada in the next five years? And what do you see as the opportunity for us to really work together on energy?
Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga: I hope that either directly or indirectly or as a partner initially, Canada can help us with our infrastructure and transmission development. Because even if Canada for example to say today that they’re willing to export to us affordable great prices, etc. Honestly, there’s going to be challenges in terms of our absorptive capacity for natural gas. So I think that’s one area where we hope we can work together with partners like Canada in terms of building up our infrastructure. Sure. And our facilities, so that by the time Canada and other partners are able to supply us. And we hope that it’s in the timeframe of the five years that you referenced, Shannon, because as I said, we’re really in a hurry to transition, and we have those 2030, 2040, 2050 deadlines and due dates. And as I said, we consider LNG to be important transition fuel because of its stability, because of its reliability. So we hope to be able to partner with friends like Canada in helping us do that transition in accordance with the timelines of the Philippine Energy Plan. But obviously, we need all the natural gas that we can to bridge that transition from fossil fuel to enable renewable energy. And this is also in the context of our policy also of trying to decommission, which we obviously we still have coal plants in operation. We have a coal moratorium. But those that have been in the pipeline already for construction continue to be online. But we are also really in the process of actively encouraging power operators and power players to decommission sooner rather than later existing plans and hopefully be able to repurpose them to some other use that to be clearer in terms of energy.
Shannon Joseph: Right. Possibly repurposing them even to gas so that you leverage that and you don’t need to build a bunch of new stuff and have a bunch of new costs on your ratepayers. That’s right. I think it’s really important you brought up the issue of infrastructure because we always think about selling to people, but people need to be able to get the thing we’re selling and have the infrastructure to use it. Are there barriers that you’re aware of that Canada can support the Philippines in helping to remove, whether it’s access to credit or other issues?
Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga: Well, it was a couple of years ago the Philippines actually liberalized and fully opened the power the renewable energy sector space. So right now, anyone who wants to invest in the sector can do so and can do so 100%. So we’re hoping that that actually makes the space more attractive for foreign investments because that addresses a lot of the constraints that we’ve been facing. One is technology. Other is the experience in terms of building all of these plants. But obviously the other thing is also access to credit. We’re hoping that if there are big international players that come and invest in renewable energy and have that capability of doing to 100%, then through providing for an equity, then they will also be able to bring into the necessary capital. So I think that’s really an important priority for us. The other thing I want to mention in the context of infrastructure is that there is a trilateral arrangement between the United States, the Philippines and Japan. So it started out as a trilateral arrangement and essentially the one of the projects of this trilateral arrangement of terms of economic cooperation is what we call the Luzon Economic Corridor. Luzon is the main island of the Philippines. The economic corridor connects actually three of the biggest ports in the Philippines. Subic, the old U.S. naval base in Central Luzon, Manila and then Batangas in the southern part of Luzon. Batangas is the province that faces the Malampaya. In fact, the two power generating plants for Malampaya as natural gas are can be found in Batangas. But the Luzon Economic Corridor is actually a whole regime of potential investments in projects, not only for the three part the regional partners, the Philippines, Japan and the United States, but also there had been discussions recently about expanding that to other partners such as obviously Canada would be one of those initiative partners for that particular project. So we hope that that corridor economic corridor can also provide opportunities for further Canadian investments in infrastructure relating to natural gas.
Shannon Joseph: Absolutely. Tell us, you know, why the Philippines energy security should be on the minds of Canadians. And you know what? What we should be thinking about as we think about the world and our role as an energy supplier.
Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga: That’s a really great question because I think that ties in again to our initial conversation about economic security is equal to national security. And it’s really important for the Philippines to have economic security of stability. And you know just overall security, because to have that ensures that the Philippines is able to withstand, resist and be resilient to any either internal threats of instability of unrest, as well as any external threat from any country or external actor that might be threatening the stability and the security of the country. And why is that important for? I mean as you were alluding, why is that important for someone in the prairies or from someone in the Maritimes? It is important because Canada as I said, we have worked a lot with Canada and Canada is obviously a global economic player, and Canada has a lot of investments that are important for the country in the Philippines. So in the there are a lot of Canadian companies who have their business process outsourcing operations in the Philippines. Back office operations are in the Philippines. And these operations rely on not only on stable and reliable and affordable and resilient energy supply, but obviously they need to make sure that the location of these investments is also safe and secure. So that speaks not only to the issue of an energy security, but really for the broader issue of the national security of the Philippines. So that’s an important consideration I think for someone thinking why Philippines or the Indo-Pacific or Asia should matter to a country like Canada? The other area also is that we need to recognize that as with many other countries, the Philippines is an important part of the global supply chain. And we provide a lot of products, commodities, services to manufacturing operations or to other industries that are important and essential also to Canada, not only for economic security, but maybe even for your national security. And then the final thing I would leave also is the Philippines is in a very strategic geopolitical area of the region. And we’re important for global maritime trade. We’re in the our security is important for freedom of navigation throughout the South China Sea. So again, instability, whether internal or externally produced, is going to be very important for many countries around the world who rely on freedom of navigation and the security of the South China Sea as important strait for navigation.
Shannon Joseph: Those are really excellent points. I guess. You know, Canada as you know is chairing the G7. We are about to have at the time of recording our G7 Energy and Environment ministerial, where we’re going to talk about energy a lot. What are you as the Philippines hoping the G7 comes out with when it comes to energy, what would be helpful to your goals as a country?
Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga: Well I would just I think go back to the five abilities that I had mentioned. But as with many things in the world today, a lot of these things we can’t do alone, we need to do it with partners who are reliable, who are there for the right reasons. And we’ve always look to Canada as some of those partners that are important to us, to our economic development or national security. And so I just hope that the G7 whether the leaders or the foreign ministers or the energy ministers continue to realize that a lot of what the policies that they do, the agreements that they have have a lot of implications and significance for countries around the world and for the global economy. And that’s why we hope that those discussions will take into consideration not only the interests of the G7 members, but really take into consideration to address some of the rest of the world.
Shannon Joseph: Absolutely. I guess to wrap up, you spend a lot of time talking to our government. But if you had a message for Canadians around energy and how you hope we can work together, what would it be?
Ambassador Chan-Gonzaga: I think I mentioned to you already that there’s a million Filipinos here in Canada. So I think that’s a manifestation of a lot of things of Canada as a country that is open and embracing to immigrants. But I think one other important realization I want to guess emphasize is that that also really just manifests the friendship and the long standing history that we have as two countries who have shared values, who try to share our freedoms, our democracies in human rights, and of course the importance of law.
Shannon Joseph: I think that’s a great way to and we got to keep this friendship going. Thank you so much, ambassador, for your time.
