LAWMAKERS in both chambers have moved to firm up the country’s victory in The Hague as the nation marked the fifth anniversary of the arbitral tribunal ruling upholding Manila’s case in the South China Sea.
In filing Senate Resolution 769 commemorating the historic legal victory before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon credited the late former President Benigno Simeon Aquino administration for pursuing the claim.
Under Senate Resolution 769, the Philippines’s victory at the Hague should be “a lasting reminder that the Filipino is never cowed or daunted, that false promises of economic largesse and military might will not serve to defeat what is right, and that our claims should be valiantly and relentlessly fought for, to ensure that future generations can benefit from the bounty of what is legally ours.”
At the same time, Senator Panfilo Lacson, in a separate statement on Monday, acknowledged that “much remains to be done” amid China’s increasing presence in the Southeast Asian region.
“Whatever we have done, or have failed to do, and what we must continue to pursue as part of our prerogatives as a law-abiding, democratic, and sovereign nation under this administration—unfortunately —has accrued little to our ‘accumulated advantage’ in the South China Sea and in the context of Philippine-China relations. On the contrary, we may have done very little in stemming the tide of an increasing Chinese footprint into the Asean region’s foreign policy, economy, and security.”
Lacson added: “Thus, let us see this day for what it truly is: Commemorating a hard-won battle, but a victory still incomplete. We must, therefore, press on to complete the victory.” On July 12, 2016, the arbitral tribunal ruled that China’s claim of historic rights to resources within the sea within its “nine-dash line” had no basis in law.
However, Lacson noted that the Philippines has “yet to come up with a comprehensive pro-Filipino policy to complete the victory we achieved five years ago today.”
“Our country needs a foreign policy that is neither pro-China or pro-US. It must only be pro-Filipino. We need a foreign policy that unites us as Filipinos, not divides us into red and yellow,” he added.
Lacson cited the need to maintain a balance of power in the South China Sea region, to be achieved through stronger ties between the Philippines and more militarily powerful allies including the United States, Australia, Japan and some European Union countries.
“No doubt, we are committed to a peaceful South China Sea, where nations follow the rule of law and are guided by the Award. But what we face now is the threat of a resurgent China pursuing its own ‘China dream’ under Xi Jinping—at the expense of our sovereign rights and patrimony in the South China Sea and other areas,” Lacson said.
He asserted “it is wrong to assume that there are only two ways to secure the West Philippine Sea—war or silence. Between war and timidity, there is the Arbitral Ruling. Let us stop snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. An opportunity exists to work with other countries, especially those in the Asean region, to find a way for us to effectively invoke the verdict we won in The Hague.”
The Drilon resolution recalled that the arbitral award by the International Court, promulgated two weeks after the term of the second Aquino administration ended, was “hailed as a victory not just for the Philippines but also for other coastal states.”
The tribunal said China’s expansive claims to historic, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction over the resources and area covered by its 9-dash-line—encompassing almost the entirety of the South China Sea, and encroaching on maritime entitlements of other coastal states, including the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and extended continental shelf (ECS) of the Philippines—was incompatible with the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).
Drilon lamented, however, that five years following the Permanent Court’s award, the country’s leaders “failed to assert and fully leverage the same in bilateral or multilateral talks with China.”
Moreover, the resolution pointed out that “China’s expansionist tendencies have only grown bolder despite the Arbitral Tribunal’s clear rejection of its broad claims.”
As additional proof of China’s expansionist tendencies, the Senate resolution noted, was China’s passage of its Coast Guard Law in January 2021. This allows the use of lethal force against anyone found in waters over which it claims jurisdiction, its operation of research stations in the Kagitingan and Zamora Reefs, its ongoing reclamation activities within the Philippine EEZ, and the continued harassment of Filipino fishermen by large Chinese vessels, the recent mooring of 240 People’s Liberation Army vessels in the Philippine EEZ.
Drilon stressed that “international law is a mechanism which allows smaller states, despite lack of military prowess, to stand on equal footing with wealthier, more powerful states, which the Philippines has aptly and bravely utilized without having to incite war when it brought China to court in 2013.”
House resolution
Meanwhile, members of the House of Representatives want to declare July 12 of every year as National West Philippine Sea Victory Day while asking the Duterte administration to invoke the arbitral win in the Philippines’s continuing engagement with China.
House Resolution 1975 filed by Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro said this declaration will celebrate the 2016 triumph before the United Nations PCS, which upheld our country’s sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea, “much of which our frenemy China is illegally claiming as part of its territory.”
According to Rodriguez, it is clear that under Unclos, the Kalayaan Island group and portions of the Spratly islands in the Palawan area and Panatag Shoal off Zambales and Pangasinan are part of the Philippines’s 200-mile EEZ.
He said China is illegally occupying some of these islands, including Panatag or Scarborough Shoal, which Filipino fishermen call Bajo de Masinloc and which Beijing seized in 2012 after a standoff between the Chinese Coast Guard and the Philippine Coast Guard.
He said Filipino fishermen have long been fishing in the West Philippine Sea, which has a reported annual fish yield of 5 million tons that sustains coastal communities on the western coasts of Luzon and Palawan.
He noted that the WPS is also reported to contain up to 55.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 5.4 billion barrels of oil, an abundant source of energy which could address the energy requirements of the country and reduce dependence on crude oil imports.
“Because of the rich natural resources in the West Philippine Sea, China has made untenable claims of indisputable sovereignty over the entire South China Sea based on its so-called ‘nine-dash line’ that encroaches on 80 percent of the Philippines’ EEZ in the WPS,” Rodriguez added.
For his part, Magdalo Rep. Manuel Cabochan III said the administration should strongly invoke the arbitration win and reflect this in its policies and rhetoric.
Cabochan earlier filed House Bill 1947 to declare July 12 a special working holiday to mark Manila’s victory.
Image courtesy of Bernard Testa