Arbitral Award A Win For Lives, Livelihoods – Marcos

The 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea is not just an “abstract triumph of jurisprudence” but about people as well as “defending lives,” and has strengthened global confidence in international tribunals, President Marcos said on Friday, July 10.

Speaking at the diplomatic reception for the 10th anniversary of the 2016 Arbitral Award at the Conrad Hotel in Pasay City, Marcos asserted anew the importance of a rules-based order where disputes between nations must be resolved “not through coercion, not through the threat or use of force,” but through peaceful means and the rule of law.

“But let us not forget, the 2016 Arbitral Award is not just an abstract triumph of jurisprudence. It has a profound and deeply human dimension. At its heart, this award is about people. It is about our fisherfolk whose ancestors have cast their nets in these waters for many generations and who deserve to fish in peace, in safety and with the dignity to feed their own families,” the President said.

“It is about our coastal communities whose survival is tied to the health and ecological integrity of our oceans. When we defend the rule of law, we are not merely defending lines on a map. We are defending the lives, the livelihoods and the future of our peoples. The law exists ultimately to protect the vulnerable, to shield human dignity from the whims of raw power,” he said. 

Marcos said the significance of the landmark decision extends “well beyond our own coastlines.” 

“Over the past decade, it has become an indispensable reference in understanding the application of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, UNCLOS, the very constitution of our oceans,” he said. 

“It has strengthened global confidence in international tribunals and reinforced the bedrock principle of pacta sunt servanda, the sacred rule that agreements must be kept,” he said.

He added: “The legacy of the 2016 Arbitral Award is still unfolding. The responsibility to build upon this foundation now belongs to all of us, to governments, to diplomats, everyday citizens who believe that peace is best secured through the law of law.”

The country celebrates the 10th anniversary of the arbitral ruling on July 12.

The landmark ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration upheld the country’s sovereign rights within its exclusive economic zone and rejected China’s sweeping claims over most of the South China Sea as without legal basis. 

The 2016 Arbitral Award is a ruling that is not only for the Philippines but for the world, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said.

Speaking at the Stratbase Institute Forum on the 10th anniversary of the ruling, Teodoro underscored the global importance of the historic decision.

“So what is this Arbitral Award for me now is not an award for the Philippines, but an award for the world, because it institutes the peremptory nature of UNCLOS, and it guards UNCLOS against revisionist attempts by selfish and tyrannical and autocratic powers. That is the Arbitral Award for me,” Teodoro said.

“It has been a paper of convergence of several countries who find common cause with the Philippines, from our Pacific neighbors to the Indian Ocean, to Europe,” he noted.

DFA: Batanes not part of China

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Armed Forces of the Philippines took turns yesterday rejecting recent claims by Chinese scholars that Batanes Islands belongs to China by way of Taiwan.

In a news article published by Chinese state-run news site GDToday on July 2, scholars at Jinan University argued during a symposium that Batanes belongs to China through Taiwan.

“Flights of fancy should not be dignified with a response. Nevertheless, the Philippines’ sovereignty over Batanes is settled and not up for debate,” the DFA said. 

“The Philippines will not entertain revisionist claims over its territory and calls on so-called scholars to focus their energies on genuine, good-faith studies of the region,” the statement added. 

The DFA noted that the Philippine-approved consular district of the Chinese consulate general in Laoag includes the Philippine province of Batanes. – With additional reports from Michael Punongbayan, Andrew Ronquillo and Rhodina Villanueva