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Tag: Spratlys

China’s flag raising

Published by Ellen on August 29, 2010

While China was protesting the draping of the Philippine flag on the coffin Senior Police Inspector Rolando Mendoza, who hostaged a bus-full of tourists from Hongkong last Monday at the Rizal Park which resulted in the death of eight of the visitors, it was also doing its own flag- raising operation.

Foreign news agencies reported last Friday that China “had used a small, manned submarine to plant the national flag deep beneath the South China Sea, where Beijing has tussled with Washington and Southeast Asian nations over territorial disputes.”

What is the Philippines going to do now, being one of the countries that claim some parts of the South China Sea?

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Hindi makiki-alam ang US sa Spratlys

Published by Ellen on June 1, 2009

Mabuti naman at sinabi ni US Defense Secretary Robert Gates Jr. na walang posisyon ang Amerika sa problema sa Spratlys kasi akala kasi ng maraming Pilipino na kapag magkagulo sa Spratlys laban sa China, kakampihan tayo ng mga Amerikano.

Wala tayong maasahan sa mga Kano, yan ang katotohanan.

Ito ang sinabi ni Gates sa press conference kahapon sa Camp Aguinaldo pagkatapos ng pag-uusap niya kay Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro: “There are a number of security challenges and obviously concerns on conflicting claims in the South China Sea, the United States takes no position on those claims, we only urge all of the parties involved to try and resolve these issues clearly, peacefully.”

Tinanong din si Gates tungkol sa Visiting Forces Agreement na binabatikos ng mga progresibong organisasyon at sabi niya comportable daw sila sa VFA. Dapat lang dahil nagagamit nila sa proteksyun ng kanilang mga sundalo kahit na binabastos na ang batas ng Pilipinas na pinapayagan naman ang ating mga opisyal.

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RP files claim over Benham Rise with UN

Published by Ellen on April 12, 2009

by Tessa Jamandre
VERA Files

THE Philippines has filed before the United Nations a claim over Benham Rise, an extinct volcanic ridge off the east coast of Luzon, beating the May 13 deadline for states to submit claims over their extended continental shelves.

The Philippine delegation deposited the claim with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) in New York on April 8, making clear it was only a “partial submission.”

This means that other submissions, including those over disputed territories, would be made later. The disputed Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), also known as the Spratly Islands, and Scarborough Shoal are also said to be part of the country’s extended continental shelf and are believed to contain oil, natural gas, minerals and polymetals.

By filing the claim over Benham Rise, which is undisputed territory, the government has stopped the clock on the UN deadline and buys time to sort out border issues with its neighbors over the KIG and Scarborough.

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Coming full circle in one year

Published by Ellen on April 5, 2009


VERA Files started with Spratlys, baseline and extended continental shelf. One year after, it’s again Spratlys, baseline and extended continental shelf.

On March 25 last year VERA Files came out with a two-part special report on the government’s scrambling to meet the deadline set by the United Nations for the submission of the Philippine claim of its extended continental shelf, the underwater extension of the land.

The deadline set by the Convention of the Law of the Sea, which the Philippines ratified 24 years ago, for coastal states to declare their extended continental shelf is May 13, 2009.

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RP to initiate border talks

Published by Ellen on March 16, 2009

Related story: China sends large patrol boat to Spratly islands

by Tessa Jamandre
VERA Files

The Philippines will soon initiate border talks with its neighbors and finally confront territorial issues it has long avoided, the most contentious being the dispute with Malaysia over Sabah, now that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed the Philippine Archipelagic Baseline Law.

The Baseline Law defines the limits of Philippine territory. It is these limits that will determine the country’s extended continental shelf, which is believed to contain substantial amounts of oil, natural gas, minerals and polymetals.

The Philippines has less than two months to beat the May 13, 2009 deadline for the submission of its claim over the extended continental shelf before the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). The UN body, however, will not rule on a claim if it involves disputed territory.

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