Eight out 10 Filipinos want to assert the legal victory for the Philippines against China over the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea), according to an independent international and strategic research organization.
At the book launch “Beyond the Crisis: A Strategic Agenda for the Next President” in Quezon City, professor Victor Andres Manhit of the Stratbase Albert del Rosario Institute said while most Filipinos would want the government to defend its position that the West Philippine Sea’s “nine-dash line” is within the territorial jurisdiction of the Philippines.
Despite such intentions, there are other issues, such as unemployment and inflation, that have been hounding the Filipino people, he said.
He advised the new administration to strengthen the country’s alliance with the other nations supporting the July 12, 2016 ruling of the Hague’s arbitral tribunal that the nine-dash line and disputed maritime features located in the South China Sea, such as the Spratly Islands, belonged to the Philippines.
“It is only China rejecting the ruling, while other countries are affirming the ruling,” said Dr. Renato de Castro, trustee and convenor of Stratbase ADR Institute.
The group said the incoming Marcos administration must pave the way for a stronger partnership with Australia, Japan, the United States of America, and the other nations, including the European Union.
In its book, Stratbase ADR Institute provided policy recommendations from lessons learned from the Duterte administration, highlighting points of action and intervention that the Marcos administration may opt to take in addressing current issues to prepare for potential and future threats.
It would also bring into focus the domains of security, economy and governance to further unpack its intersectionality and how these mutually reinforce one another, the book added.
The research organization brought together 16 experts from various fields, including those from the academe, that crafted the “strategic government agenda with resilience and sustainability in mind taking into consideration the next six years and perceivably beyond political timeline.”
De Castro said there must be a balance of foreign policy recommendations with a feasible approach toward the reformulation of the National Security Strategy as outlined in “A National Security Strategy (NSS) for the 17th Philippine President: The Case for A Limited Balancing Strategy.”
Taking into context the lessons learned from the Duterte administration, he proposed a strategy promoting territorial and sovereign rights based on the 2016 arbitral ruling, incorporating and highlighting human security priorities.
These include public health security, continuing efforts to the AFP modernization program, implementing organizational and legislative reforms involving the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines, and strengthening existing and new alliances and partnerships with multilateral organizations committed to a rules-based international system.
