Tag: South China Sea

1734 Murillo Velarde map is back in Manila

Published by Ellen on May 5, 2017

IT businessman Mel Velarde explains to Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III the Murillo-Velarde map he bought in a Sotheby auction in London for P12 million two years ago.

Sharing the spotlight at the launching of Senior Justice Antonio T. Carpio’s E-Book, “The South China Sea Dispute:Philippine Sovereign Rights and Jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea” at the Manila Polo Club Thursday was a glass- encased 1734 Murillo-Velarde map.

This was the map IT businessman Mel Velarde bought in a Sotheby auction on Nov. 4, 2014 for P12 million. A copy of the map was one of the documents used in the case filed by the Philippines against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2013. The Arbitral Court upheld the Philippine position in most of the issue raised in the case.

The map has been kept in a safe in London since its purchase. Last week, Velarde took out the valuable map and hand carried it during the 13-hour flight arriving in Manila last April 29.

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.

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.

Justice Carpio’s Benham Rise 101

Published by Ellen on March 15, 2017

Where is Benham Rise ? From the video of Oceana Philippines

The notes of Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio on Benham Rise is very useful as the 13-million-hectare undersea region east of Luzon is in the news with the disclosure last week by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana that Chinese survey ships have been spotted in the area last year.

Filipinos are familiar with Scarborough o Panatag Shoal , Pag-asa island and other features in the disputed Spratlys in the South China Sea but, Benham Rise?

It seems that even President Duterte is not familiar with Benham Rise based on his answer to GMATV’s Joseph Morong’s question last Monday night.

Gloria Arroyo as foreign secretary?

Published by Ellen on September 23, 2016

Former President Gloria Arroyo being interviewed by ABS-CBN upon arrival in Germany Sept. is husband Mike Arroyo.

So traumatized and demoralized are the foreign service corps – with the damage control operation that they have to perform every time President Duterte curses other governments and international institutions plus the impending appointments of retired generals to ambassadorial posts – that many like the idea of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as the next foreign secretary.

That’s the rumor in the diplomatic circle and all are in agreement that Arroyo, as former president, definitely has a better grasp of foreign relations compared to Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay, Jr.

One story going around in the DFA was the briefing given to Yasay in his first week at the DFA on human rights. After a lengthy briefing, Yasay asked: “Are we for or against human rights.”

Those in the room were flabbergasted, we were told.

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.

The pitfalls of joint development of Spratlys with China

Published by Ellen on July 10, 2016

It’s best that Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. study carefully the intricacies of joint exploration with China so he can advise President Rodrigo Duterte to go slow about it.

Yasay, in his clarification about what he said in an interview with Agence France Presse last week, said, ““As the ruling will not address sovereignty and delimitation, it is possible that some time in the future, claimant countries might consider entering into arrangements such as joint exploration and utilization of resources in disputed areas that do not prejudice the parties’ claims and delimitation of boundaries in accordance with Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).”

Even if the Philippines gets a favorable ruling Tuesday on the issues they raised against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, there would still be a lot of complications about joint development of the disputed areas in the South China Sea.

The number one problem is China’s concept of “setting aside dispute and pursuing joint development.”

One of the resource materials on the issue in the website of the China’s Foreign Ministry, says “The concept of setting aside dispute and pursuing joint development has the following four elements: 1. The sovereignty of the territories concerned belongs to China. 2. When conditions are not ripe to bring about a thorough solution to territorial dispute, discussion on the issue of sovereignty may be postponed so that the dispute is set aside. To set aside dispute does not mean giving up sovereignty. It is just to leave the dispute aside for the time being. 3. The territories under dispute may be developed in a joint way. 4. The purpose of joint development is to enhance mutual understanding through cooperation and create conditions for the eventual resolution of territorial ownership.”

No Hitler-calling vs China; no jetskiing to the Spratlys

Published by Ellen on July 3, 2016

President Duterte greets Chinese ambassador Zhao Jianhua in a reception of the Diplomatic Corps during the inaugural ceremony on June 30,2016

Change has come.

The sober position that the Duterte administration is taking in connection with the impending decision of the United Nations Arbitral Court on the case filed by the Philippines against China is a reversal of the “Shame China” strategy that the Aquino administration undertook.

It is also a departure from cinematic solution that then candidate Rodrigo Duterte regaled his supporters with during campaign rallies:
“I will ask the Navy to bring me to the nearest point in South China Sea that is tolerable to them and I will ride a jet ski. I’ll carry a flag and when I reach Spratlys, I will erect the Filipino flag. I will tell them, suntukan o barilan.”

Now carrying the mantle of the presidency, Duterte was a voice of moderation during the cabinet discussion aired live on TV on how they would handle the July 12 U.N. Court decision.

PH authorities knew of Subi Reef lighthouse construction 5 years ago

Published by Ellen on April 7, 2016

Lighthouse on Subi Reef in South China Sea is not in use. Photo by Xing Guangli. Xinhua

China has started the operations of a lighthouse in Subi Reef, The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday.

Xinhua said the 55-meter high lighthouse contains technology to monitor passing ships.

The Philippines should be very concerned.