The government should uphold Philippine sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea amid China’s continued incursions in the resource-rich maritime zone in the South China Sea, despite a series of diplomatic protests filed against Beijing, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines said on Friday.
The Executive department, Congress, judiciary, military, constitutional commissions, and local officials should rally behind the arbitral ruling that invalidated Beijing’s massive claim over the South China Sea through its nine-dash line, which included the West Philippine Sea, the country’s mandatory organization for lawyers said.
The lawyers’ group, through its Board of Governors, said the Duterte administration should make it clear that the 2016 Arbitral Award rendered by the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in favor of the Philippines is “not a mere piece of paper fit only to be thrown in a waste basket.”
The IBP was referring to President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial statement early this month.
The group also urged the government to declare that Chinese and other foreign nationals cannot fish in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, as its use and enjoyment is reserved exclusively to Filipino citizens, and that any physical possession of the Philippines’ EEZ by China is unlawful.
The statement was signed by the IBP board of governors on Monday.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has fired a series of diplomatic protests against the continued presence of Chinese militia vessels in several features and islands in the West Philippine Sea.
Duterte recently said the Philippines would not pull out its ships in the West Philippine Sea, despite the country’s “debt of gratitude” to China, which contributed to the country’s COVID-19 response through the delivery of vaccine doses and medical supplies.
Representatives from both Manila and Beijing held a virtual meeting on May 21 where they recognized the importance of addressing differences in “an atmosphere of openness and cordiality to pave the way for practical cooperation and initiatives,” the DFA said.