Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario on Wednesday urged President Rodrigo Duterte to defend and assert the country’s sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea and disputed areas in the South China Sea by invoking the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2016.
“With the tribunal ruling, we need to respectfully call on the President to finally do what is necessary to defend what we are fully entitled to under international law,” Del Rosario said during his speech at the launch of “Rock Solid,” a book authored by journalist Marites Vitug at the Ateneo de Manila University.
“We need to listen, not to the Chinese ambassador, but to our people. We need to embrace, not China, but our own country,” the former top diplomat added.
Del Rosario’s remarks came after President Duterte assured the public during his State of the Nation Address that the Philippines remains firm in its position on the South China Sea issue, saying the country’s improved relationship with China does not mean “that we will waver in our commitment to defend our interest in the West Philippine Sea” and Manila will continue to engage Beijing through multilateral and bilateral channels.
Del Rosario also urged the President’s Cabinet secretaries, including his successor Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, to exhaust all diplomatic measures to defend the country’s sovereignty over the WPS and retake areas illegally occupied by the Chinese in the South China Sea.
“The President and his men should cast aside their fear of displeasing China. In diplomatically moving forward to do what needs to be done, the President and his men will not be alone. In defending what is right, we will be joined by all Filipinos,” the former foreign secretary said, obviously referring to the recent survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations that 87 percent of Filipinos want the country to retake Philippine islands seized by China in the disputed sea.
Del Rosario believes that the Philippines will get the backing of the international community and its neighbors in the Southeast Asian Nations should it invoke the ruling of the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal.
“We will ultimately be joined by the community of responsible nations who believe in adhering to a rules-based order for the avoidance of global chaos,” he said.
“In this fight for what is right and in defense against an unlawful aggressor who is out to demolish the rule of law, raise tension and create chaos, we must have faith in our friends, our allies, and the resilient spirit of the Filipino people,” the former top diplomat said.
In July 2016, the UN Arbitral Tribunal ruled that the Philippines has exclusive sovereign rights over the WPS in the South China Sea and that China’s “nine-dash line” is invalid.
“The Tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line,” the tribunal’s statement said.
“Having found that none of the features claimed by China was capable of generating an exclusive economic zone, the Tribunal found that it could—without delimiting a boundary—declare that certain sea areas are within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, because those areas are not overlapped by any possible entitlement of China,” it said.
The Arbitral ruling also said that China has violated Philippine sovereign rights. “Having found that certain areas are within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, the Tribunal found that China had violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone by (a) interfering with Philippine fishing and petroleum exploration, (b) constructing artificial islands and (c) failing to prevent Chinese fishermen from fishing in the zone,” the tribunal statement said.
The Spratly Islands and its many reefs are being claimed by China under its “nine-dash line” that covers nearly the entire South China Sea including parts of the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone.
The Philippine government filed its case in January 2013 following a tense standoff between Chinese and Philippines ships at Scarborough shoal in April 2012.
Since the filing of the arbitration case, China had conducted several massive reclamation activities to turn submerged reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military structures and equipment.
China’s reclamation activities have alarmed other Southeast Asian nations, including Vietnam, which also has competing claims in the South China Sea.
However, when President Duterte assumed office, he adopted an independent foreign policy that lessens Manila’s dependence to Washington and warms up relations with China.
During his visit to China, Duterte declared that he was willing to overlook overlapping maritime claims in the South China Sea in return for economic support from China.