The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was urged Monday to make good on its assurance to protect Filipinos fishing in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), in case China implements its new restrictive policy to detain trespassing foreigners without trial in international waters.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said the Philippine Navy (PN), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) should now establish a stronger presence in the WPS for the protection of our fisherfolk ahead of China’s threat.
China has threatened to detain “trespassers” starting on June 15, in line with its unilaterally imposed fishing ban in the South China Sea (SCS), from May 1 to Sept. 16.
“We are taking the military (and) its word that our fishers have nothing to worry about because the AFP has their back and will provide protection to them against possible harassment from the Chinese in the WPS,” Villafuerte said.
At the same time, Villafuerte backed the planned filing by the Department of Justice (DOJ), in tandem with the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), of an environmental damage case against Beijing for its island-building activities that have damaged our coral reefs in the WPS.
The DOJ and OSG are currently preparing the case as an offshoot of the PCG’s recent discovery of crushed coral fragments in the cays near Pag-Asa Island and Sabina Shoal in the WPS, which, according to the PCG, indicated small-scale reclamation within our exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as set by the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).
“This unilaterally-imposed fishing ban of Beijing in the WPS has neither legal nor scientific basis,” Villafuerte said, underscoring that the WPS—as declared under the 1994 UNCLOS and affirmed in the 2016 PCA (Permanent Court of Arbitration) ruling—falls within our EEZ, and is thus legally part of the maritime territory of the Philippines and not China’s.
Villafuerte noted that even the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)—a world court that resolves cases related to maritime disputes—has released an advisory opinion declaring that China has no right to claim any islands or rock features based on the nine-dash U-shape line (later on 10-dash line) drawn in its historical maps.