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Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Defending both fronts

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"We cannot let this landmark decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration become a mere scrap of paper."

 

 

In 2016, the Philippines made history with the favorable ruling made by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on the West Philippine Sea territorial disputes. The historic arbitral ruling rejected the nine-dash line claim of China on the West Philippine Sea. This upheld and validated the sovereignty of the Philippines on its territorial waters.

No less than the President himself acknowledged this ruling.

Today, however, we are once again faced with the threats of this Goliath. The calm waters west of the archipelago have been continuously disturbed in the past few weeks simultaneous with our record-high daily COVID-19 cases. As we deal with an invisible enemy, we also have to fight the continued encroachment upon our waters. Recall that more than a hundred Chinese maritime militia vessels were found lurking in the West Philippine Sea, allegedly seeking shelter from the storm. However, unlike before, these Chinese vessels seem to be undaunted by the warnings given by the government. The tension increased when, recently, Chinese missile vessels followed a fishing boat boarded by a Filipino news team near the contested waters.

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China is acting like a thief in the night. It seems we are slowly robbed of our sovereign rights and freedom of navigation over our territorial waters. Fishermen, most especially, are adversely affected by the unauthorized and prolonged stay of these foreign vessels. We can recall last year the ramming incident by a Chinese vessel to the Filipino fishermen’s boats and other unpleasant encounters. We cannot help but think that the Chinese have been slowly taking the reins over the West Philippine Sea and have been left unchecked for so long.

The unanimous 2016 Hague ruling has been a beacon of hope for countries like the Philippines who take refuge in the law against a well-known economic giant. It was a struggle between David and Goliath. Our victory showed that justice is kept alive among nation states, regardless of their economic or political status. Hence, we cannot let this landmark decision become a mere scrap of paper. The historical evidence, the narratives, the maps—all of them that invalidated the baseless claims of China—cannot be simply ignored.

I call for action from the national government to protect our sovereignty over our exclusive economic zones and uphold this arbitral ruling. More importantly, the government needs to protect and secure the people against any unfriendly advances by these foreign vessels.

There is this famous story about a frog put in a pot of water under a fire. Before the frog knew it, he had already been slowly accustomed to the heat, until it became too late for him to jump out of the boiling water. Unlike the frog, let us be vigilant. While the country has been a long-time ally of many developed countries, we need to be wary that we might not end up like the frog in the story. We need to strengthen our resolve and love for our country and our freedom.

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