Tag: Spratlys

Justice Carpio sounds alarm on latest Chinese seizure of PH territory

Published by Ellen on August 20, 2017

South China Sea features. Encircled ffeatures show Pag-asa (Thitu) and Sandy Cay

While the public was engrossed with the scandal of how 605 kilos of shabu from China worth P6.5 billion slipped through the Bureau of Custom and being entertained with the Bautista vs Bautista family feud with a cameo role by President Duterte, a chunk of Philippine territory was being taken over by China.

China occupied Mischief Reef in 1995, took control of Scarborough Shoal in 2012. This time it’s Sandy Cay, 2.5 nautical miles from Pagasa, the largest of the eight features occupied by the Philippines.

Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio has sounded the alarm on the presence of Chinese frigates in the area of Sandy Cay and laid out its implications:

A COC that would legitimize China’s artificial islands in the Spratlys

Published by Ellen on August 7, 2017

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano at the gala dinner of ASEAN and its dialogue partners.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Sunday that he and the 10 foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have approved the framework for the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.

This is just a framework, not the long-desired COC. Nevertheless, it is a major step towards an agreement that hopefully would provide stability in the vast body of water disputed by China, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

The substance of that framework will be discussed in the coming months, Wang said.

China’s concept of setting side sovereignty dispute for joint exploration of Spratlys

Published by Ellen on July 31, 2017

Asked during his press conference last Wednesday when the talks about the joint exploration in Philippine territory that is also being claimed by China and other countries started, Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano recalled the meeting of the late Deng Xiaoping with then President Corazon Aquino.

Meeting of China’s paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and Pres. Corazon Aquino in Beijing in April 1988. Photo from People’s Daily online

In that meeting, Deng suggested to set aside the issue of sovereignty on the Spratlys because that won’t be resolved in their lifetime. He suggested joint development.

Cayetano assured the public that the joint exploration they would be entering with the Chinese will not violate the Constitution and cited the Malampaya oil project in Palawan which is being operated by Shell, a British–Dutch multinational oil and gas company.

The trade off: multi-billion dollar projects in exchange for Chinese exploration in PH EEZ

Published by Ellen on July 29, 2017

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi July 25,2017. DFA photo.

From the fragmented information about the resumption of talks on joint exploration with China in the disputed parts of the Spratlys, what is emerging is a repeat of jumbo loans that the administration of Gloria Arroyo obtained from the Chinese government in 2004 in exchange for agreeing to allow China to explore within the country’s economic exclusive zone.

In his State-of-the Nation address last Monday, the issue about West Philippine Sea was mentioned sort of in passing. “The West Philippine Sea issue and federalism are matters that we have to tackle sooner or later,” Duterte said.

Reporters followed it up in his post-SONA press conference. Duterte added more information:

“When they start to excavate the gas and all. I tell you, it’s going to be just like a joint venture. Para pareho. (So it’s equal). “

Justice Carpio’s E-book on South China Sea dispute

Published by Ellen on May 1, 2017

The political winds have indeed shifted.

On the same day that the China-friendly statement of this year’s chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, President Rodrigo Duterte, was released to media, Philippine and Chinese flags were seen raised on a Chinese warship, Chang Chun (DDG 150) that docked in Davao city pier.

This would have been unthinkable in the past administration.

These developments may cause some to be confused on the issues on South China Sea where we are contesting the almost all-encompassing claim of China. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have also overlapping claims with China in the area.

Recalling JMSU

Published by Ellen on April 25, 2017

The Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking, JMSU for short, is back in the news.

It was mentioned by former president Gloria Arroyo and her executive secretary, Eduardo Ermita, to stress that cooperation with China in South China Sea is possible during the launch of the book, “The Ocean Space or the Maritime Area of the Philippines,” a primer on the law of the sea, at the House of Representatives, where Arroyo is a currently a member.

The primer, published by the University of the Philippines, is timely at this time when the Philippines, under President Duterte has reconciled with China, in contrast to the toxic relations during the Aquino administration.
During the press conference Arroyo said, “The language, it was without prejudice to the filing of a protest. And since it was just a research survey, it does not affect the respective positions of the countries on issues related to the claim.”

Duterte can’t sell PH land in Spratlys to China

Published by Ellen on April 11, 2017

Now, President Duterte wants to go into real estate business in the Spratlys.

Before he embarked on a state visit to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar, he told reporters that he might sell what the Philippines claim in Spratlys to China.

Assuring China that his orders to install markers and flag to the 10 features in the Spratlys being claimed by the Philippines is not hostile, he said:, “So, for the information of China, we will not place there any offensive weapons, not even one gun. We’re just there to claim the island for us because that is really ours. And I have ordered the Armed Forces to build structures there to signify to all na atin ito at lagyan ng flag and structures. We did not mean no harm to China. We are friends as a matter of fact.”

In fact, he said, ” Maybe when we get rich, very rich, I can sell the land to you for … inyo na when the spectacle of a war is gone and nothing is dangerous to the Philippines.”

Official marker in Pag-asa Island. Photo from the West Philippine Sea primer of the UP Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.

Occupy Spratlys

Published by Ellen on April 10, 2017

Was Duterte’s Occupy Spratlys order a reaction to the decline of the people’s trust in him as shown in the latest survey of Pulse Asia that he had to show that he is no lackey of China and he can stand up to the neighboring economic giant?

The day after Pulse Asia released results of its March 15-20 survey that showed the President’s trust rating drop by seven points and performance rating by five points, he was at the Western Command in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

In an interview with reporters he said: “Coming Independence Day natin, I might, I may go to Pag-asa Island to raise the flag there. Pati iyong ano, basta iyong bakante, na iyong atin na, tirhan na natin, ibig sabihin. Mukhang agawan kasi ito ng isla eh. (Even the unoccupied which is ours, we should put people there. It looks like this is just island grabbing.) And what’s ours now, at least kunin na natin (let’s get it) and make a strong point there that it is ours.”

Map showing the features in the Spratly Islands currently occupied by various claimant countries. Photo from the West Philippine Sea primer by UP Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.

How much did PH pay for foreign lawyers in case vs China?

Published by Ellen on July 21, 2016

(I did this article for VERA Files.)

The government paid $7 million in legal fees to the international team that gave the Philippines its landmark victory against China over the disputed features in the South China Sea, a member of the Philippine delegation to The Hague hearings said.

The source who asked for anonymity said the $7 million was a ceiling in lawyers’ fees the government of President Benigno Aquino III insisted on, having learned a costly lesson from the case against the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco) where, under an open-ended agreement, the lawyers’ fees reached $65 million.

The Philippines was represented in the two-and-a half year litigation by Foley Hoag LLP. The case against China was filed with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands on January 22, 2013.

Counsel for the Philippines Paul S. Reichler. Photo from Permanent Court of Arbitration.

The $7 million (P328,996,500 at P47 to $1) was the third ceiling set, more than 65 per cent higher than the original contract fee of $4,212,000 agreed upon in December 2012 by then Solicitor General and now Supreme Court Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza and Paul S. Reichler of Foley Hoag.

China avoids criticizing PH, hits Arbitral court

Published by Ellen on July 14, 2016

Take note that in China’s reaction to the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the case filed by the Philippines against its all-encompassing nine-dash-line map and its claim of maritime rights over Scarborough Shoal and the Spratlys, it hit the Tribunal, not the Philippine government.

Definitely, not President Rodrigo Duterte.

If this sets the tone for post-Decision Philippine-China relations, there’s a good chance that talks on the disputed waters will achieve something positive.

Duterte had the good sense of letting Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay issue the statement who simply welcomed the decision and called for restraint and sobriety.

Yasay was heavily criticized by not looking happy over the decision that was overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippines.