Easier said than done
LAST week, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines issued an official statement affirming that “it stands with the Filipino fishermen who are only exercising their right to a livelihood inside our own Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). And, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines also supports the legitimate stand of the Philippine government in asserting our country’s lawful and sovereign rights over the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine Sea.”
To underscore its full understanding of the contentious issues that confronts the nation, it belabored legal arguments asserting Philippines’ sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea, from the 1898 Treaty of Paris to the 1987 UNCLOS ruling as if the country never heard of then.
These same arguments were already put forward by our country’s legal luminaries, elucidating and defending the Philippine government’s position with foreign powers. President Marcos Jr. in fact, used these same arguments to rally members of ASEAN to support its stand and protest against China, but failed.
The IBP statement could have served the Philippines cause if it presented arguments and recommended alternatives, scenarios that could compel the United Nations to enforce the UNCLOS ruling because the historical accounts alone just didn’t work on the UN.
Meanwhile, all the chest-thumping on media to show that we are a brave people that cannot be intimidated by the Chinese military is empty rhetoric. Our courageous conviction will never stand up to China’s military might. It distracts our people away from where the doable solution lies – to initiate a dialogue with China as Asian neighbors.
But that is also easier said than done.
Harassment in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea to the world) by China will continue not because of our claim of sovereignty like Vietnam, Malaysia have to this day but because Philippines is hosting 9 EDCA sites for the US, aimed at threatening China.
Will President Marcos dare revert to his original independent foreign policy, as “friend to all , enemy to none” and withdraw the 9 EDCA sites? Will IBP and other patriotic groups care to present legal and historical accounts for the return of the independent foreign policy?
Meanwhile, here’s a reality check: The China government has military control of the area, we don’t. The US government dreads the day Philippines invokes the Mutual Defense Treaty that will commit its military resources because it evidently doesn’t intend to comply. Philippines can only hope to get expressions of support from 20 countries allied with the US with a strong condemnation of the Chinese government to boot, but these countries will not go to war with China over Philippines claim in the disputed shoals and islands.
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