Año: No letup in PH ‘pushback’
The Philippines will “continue to push back” against China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea, Manila’s top security official said, adding that the government has the option to file another arbitral case against China’s violations of Philippine sovereignty.
National Security Adviser Eduardo Año made these remarks at a forum on Friday which marked the eighth anniversary of the arbitral ruling that invalidated Beijing’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea.
Yet since the July 12, 2016 ruling by the arbitral tribunal China has “steadily increased” its presence in Philippine waters, resorting to coercion and harassment at the “greater risk [of] sparking violent incidents,” as Año himself acknowledged.
The closest that China came to instigating open conflict was the June 17 assault by its coast guard on Filipino troops during their resupply mission to Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.
During that confrontation, China Coast Guard (CCG) personnel wielded bolos, knives and other weapons in threatening Filipino troops. They also rammed their rubber boats against those of the Philippine Navy, which led to one Navy man losing his right thumb.
‘Stand our ground’
Año, a former chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said, “We will continue to stand our ground and push back against coercion, interference, malign influence and other tactics that seek to jeopardize our security and stability.”
He said the arbitral ruling “is not and will never be a mere piece of paper,” referring to how former President Rodrigo Duterte described the arbitral award in 2021. Año, at that time, was Duterte’s interior secretary.
He said filing another arbitral case against China remained an option of the government.
“It will depend, of course, on the decision of the President. All of that is included in the discussion,” Año said.
Former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio agreed that the government should file new arbitration cases against China.
Beijing is actually “in dread of the Philippines filing another arbitration” because they could not prove their expansive claims in the South China Sea, Carpio said in the same forum.
‘Victory Day’
Meanwhile, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said the country should commemorate July 12 of every year as “West Philippine Sea (WPS) Victory Day,” not only to celebrate Manila’s landmark arbitral case against Beijing but also to remind the world of the Filipinos’ “ability to fight and push back with pride and dignity.”
“The 2016 victory showed the world that a small country like the Philippines can legally, peacefully and diplomatically stand up to a big, autocratic country like China,” Hontiveros said in a statement.
She said “Beijing’s continued threats and intimidation despite the ruling are also a sober reminder to the world that all those who believe in the international, rules-based order must actively come together to safeguard peace and security across the globe.”
Hontiveros had earlier filed Senate Resolution No. 674, which propose to declare July 12 as WPS Victory Day.
“This is also an opportune time to show our biggest aggressor, China, that the Philippines will stand as one in the fight for our sovereignty,” she said.
Meanwhile, residents of Palawan province took the initiative of celebrating WPS Victory Day.
The celebration, led by the newly formed local nongovernmental organization Sulong West Philippine Sea (SWPS), was highlighted by Gov. Victorino Dennis Socrates’ signing of Provincial Ordinance No. 3498 at the Provincial Capitol Convention Center, officially declaring July 12 as WPS Victory Day in the province.
“Under President Marcos’s administration, the national government has shifted to a more assertive approach, essentially reviving former President Noynoy Aquino’s policy,” Socrates said.
‘Nothing has changed’
Councilor Maurice Phillip Alexis Albayda of Kalayaan town said that with the creation of the SWPS, the national government would have an additional support group for this cause.
For Provincial Board Member Ferdinand Zaballa, this declaration of victory is “not the end, but rather the beginning—a wake-up call for everyone.”
In Zambales, fishermen in Subic town staged a fluvial protest, carrying lifesize replicas of the cover page of the arbitral ruling to commemorate the anniversary of the victory.
But fisherman Joeffrey Elad lamented that the arbitral ruling remains meaningless as long as they are barred from entering the lagoon of Scarborough Shoal, also known as Panatag Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc, in the West Philippine Sea.
“It’s been a long time since the decision was made, but nothing has changed, the situation is still the same,” Elad told the Inquirer.
Leonardo Cuaresma, president of the New Masinloc Fishermen Association, Filipino fishermen continue to suffer at the hands of the CCG.
“We are still demanding that China respect our rights in the WPS, especially in Scarborough Shoal which served as our traditional fishing ground for decades,” Cuaresma said. —WITH A REPORT FROM MARLON RAMOS
