He reminds me of Hugo Chavez. But strong man like him want to appear strong in front of his people, and China do have territorial dispute with pinoy. I can't see how we can solve them with win win situation for both countries. He offered China to jointly extract the gas in a territorial that isn't de factoly controlled by pinoy anymore. Basically he want China to give a piece of China's controlled sea to him in return for what? he still hasn't kicked out the US from pinoy despite all his rants againt the US. I think China should wait and see until he take action that is detrimental to the US interest in the region.
As for protection, even if China want to offer "protection", it will be MSS job, not China's secret service. And I doubt China has the capability or even the will to do that. It is something that China haven't done before, and it is pinoy territory, an unfamiliar one.