A multi-sectoral group said Sunday the government must educate the Filipino people on the country’s arbitral victory in 2016 against China on the South China Sea and internationalize the development.
The Citizens Alliance for Life and the Law (CALL) of the Sea has petitioned the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education to include in the high school and college curriculum the arbitral award that invalidates China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea, said Greg Atienza, executive director of Soul Philippines.
“This is a long fight… If we don’t know our rights, then what are we fighting for? The curriculum of our education should include these rights,” Atienza told ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo.
The Philippines will mark on July 12 the fifth anniversary of the landmark award, which President Rodrigo Duterte shelved in favor of economic benefits from China.
It is regarded as among the important legacies of former President Benigno Aquino III, who died last Thursday.
Atienza said lawmakers were also urged to pass the necessary legislation to globalize the exploration and development of the West Philippine Sea, the portion of the South China Sea over which the Philippines has sovereign rights.
“So that we can have as many multilateral participation in the West Philippine Sea as one means by which there will be more stability. For example,sign more projects like the Malampaya,” he said.
The Philippine Coast Guard and Philippine Navy are also enjoined to accompany fisherfolks so that they don’t get chased away by Chinese vessels, he added.
The group was formed on June 22, two days before the death of Aquino, whose administration brought China to the arbitral tribunal.
Atienza said that on July 12, some 50 groups will gather online to start their “education campaign for the general citizenry.”
The aim is to expand the “unified action to defend the West Philippine Sea”, to include forming alliance with international counterparts “for the enforcement of the award.”
Rico Domingo of the Philippine Bar Association, in a separate interview Sunday also on TeleRadyo, said that while there was no precedent as regards the enforcement of the arbitral ruling, a case by Nicaragua against the US in the 1980s could serve as a model.
A unit in the PBA is studying this as they plan to draft a blueprint for the enforcement and submit it to the next administration for its consideration.
“We’ve said that the Filipinos can take a stand on this and do an intensive research to have a blueprint for our country, for the future generation.,” Domingo said.