Category: Foreign Affairs

What the Philippine U.N. case vs China is not

Published by Ellen on July 6, 2015

Contrary to what many think that the Philippines case against China in the Arbitral Court of the United Nations Commission on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) will clarify who owns what or which of the reefs in the Spratlys, it won’t.

That’s because that is not in the scope of the U.N. Arbitral Tribunal where the Philippines filed the case. The UN Arbitral Tribunal only deals with the interpretation and application of UNCLOS.

It does not decide on sovereignty over disputed features in the sea.

Territorial disputes are the domain of the International Court of Justice or ICJ.

PH and China dispute to continue despite U.N. Tribunal case

Published by Ellen on July 5, 2015

By Ellen T Tordesillas and Tessa Jamandre, VERA Files

Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague. The Arbitral Tribunal starts hearing today the case filed by the Philippines vs China in this building. — Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague. The Arbitral Tribunal starts hearing tomorrow the case filed by the Philippines vs China in this building.

Despite the presence of a high-level Philippine team at the hearing of the Philippines’ case against China before the Arbitral Tribunal of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) this week, the issue of who owns the contested islands in the South China Sea will remain unresolved.

That’s because the Philippine team won’t be arguing its territorial claims, which are not under the jurisdiction of the Arbitral Tribunal in The Hague in the Netherlands.

“We are very confident that we can convince the court that this is not about ownership of land,” said former solicitor general now Supreme Court justice Francis Jardeleza, who is part of the Philippine team.

Instead, the Philippines merely wants the Tribunal, which interprets UNCLOS, to invalidate China’s 9-dash line claim over the South China Sea.

Should PH seek provisional measures from U.N. vs China

Published by Ellen on June 30, 2015

China released this photo of a vegetable garden in Fiery Cross which the Philippines says is a reef which cannot sustain human habitation.

As China continues its massive reclamation and construction in areas surrounding the seven reefs that it occupies in the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea, the Philippines can only watch helplessly.

The Philippine government’s protests through media now sounds like a broken record.

The United Nations International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea will start the hearing of the Philippine suit against China’s nine dash line map which encroached on territories of the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam on July 7.

But even a favorable decision by the U.N Arbitral Tribunal, which is expected next year, won’t bind China which has refused to participate in the legal process.

What is left for the Philippines to do then?

More tourists and excellent dimsum from Taiwan to Manila

Published by Ellen on June 12, 2015

Taiwan Representative Gary Song-Huann Lin

At the reunion of Filipinos who have been to Taiwan upon the invitation of Taiwan government last week, Dr. Gary Song-Huann Lin, head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Manila, announced a number of good things that would strengthen relations between the Philippines and the Republic of China.

The one that I was interested in was the information that the famous Taiwanese dimsum restaurant, Din Tai Fung, will soon be in Manila.

The other welcome announcement was the increase of flights between Taiwan and the Philippines.

These developments show that despite institutional diplomacy limitations, relations between the Philippines and Taiwan continues to improve.

A wealth of stories from the Murillo Velarde map

Published by Ellen on June 10, 2015

Looking at the almost 300- year-old Philippine map by Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde which businessman Mel Velarde acquired for P12 million in an auction in London last year, one can see that the Jesuit priest is a great storyteller.

The 1734 Murillo Velarde map shows more than just locations. It has two panels on both sides engraved with images depicting lifestyles and special features of places. One panel shows a farmer plowing the field not far from a river with crocodiles. It’s noted that in Zamboanga, there’s “Pozo de Agua Dulce.” In general it showed Filipinos enjoying a highly civilized society.

But the most significant feature of the Murillo Velarde map is a tiny spot off the shores of Nueva Castilla, which was then the name of Luzon labeled “Panacot.”

PH to submit 300-year-old map to UN in case vs China

Published by Ellen on June 7, 2015

By Ellen T. Tordesillas,VERA Files

The Philippine government will be submitting to the Permanent Court for Arbitration in The Hague this week an almost 300-year-old map of the Philippines showing the disputed Scarborough Shoal being part of Philippine territory as far back as three centuries ago.

The map debunks the so-called nine-dash-line China has been using as proof of its claim over the South China Sea. It also locates Scarborough shoal, then known as “Panacot,” also called “Panatag” by Filipinos, off the shores of Luzon, then known as Nueva Castilla. Scarborough shoal has been a source of conflict between the Philippines and China.

The Jesuit priest Pedro Murillo Velarde had the map published in Manila in 1734. It surfaced in 2012 among the possessions of a British lord, who put it up for auction at Sotheby’s in London, where Filipino businessman Mel Velarde bid and got it for £170,500 ($266,869.46 or P12,014,463.09).

The President should know when to show off his knowledge of war history

Published by Ellen on June 4, 2015

President Aquino delivers his speech during the Nikkei 21st International Conference on the Future of Asia in Tokyo. Malacañang photo by Ryan Lim.

Much of the tension between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea territorial conflict would have been avoided if President Aquino knew when to keep his mouth shut.

In the 21st International Conference on the Future of Asia sponsored by Nikkei last Wednesday in Tokyo, Aquino was asked about the role of the United States in Asia in the midst of China’s maritime expansion, Aquino said American presence in Asia checks China’s expansionism. “Their presence becomes a factor that has to be contended with, with those who would perhaps push the envelopes as far as what the agreements entitle them to or not,” he said.

But he didn’t stop there.

Why the Philippines did not build lighthouses in Spratlys

Published by Ellen on May 28, 2015

Long before China built lighthouses in reefs they are occupying in the disputed Spratlys, the Philippine government under President Fidel Ramos had planned to build lighthouses in Reed Bank and two other reefs but inter-government wrangling over money stalled the project until it was overtaken by events.

Last Tuesday, China announced its plan to construct lighthouses in two reefs in Spratlys which it calls Nansha Islands.

Groundbreaking ceremony for the construcion of Lighthouses in Huayang Reef and Chigua Reef. Xinhua photo.

A news item in Xinhua, a Chinese news agency, China to Build Large Lighthouses in South China Sea said, “China’s Ministry of Transport (MOT) on Tuesday hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of two lighthouses on Huayang Reef and Chigua Reef of China’s Nansha Islands.

ASEAN and Suu Kyi’s deafening silence on Rohingya plight

Published by Ellen on May 17, 2015

NY Times:Rohingya migrants swam to collect food supplies dropped by a Thai Army helicopter in the Andaman Sea. Credit Christophe Archambault/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Adrift in the Andaman Sea are hundreds of thousands of people in the verge of death due to hunger, thirst and victims of human cruelty.

They are the Rohingyas, a Muslim ethnic group mainly living in Myanmar. It is estimated that they number some 800,000 and comprise 80 to 90 percent of the state of Rakhine.

Boatloads of them have fled Myanmar where they are being persecuted. Myanmar does not consider them its citizens. History accounts say they migrated from Bengal during the 1700s during the British rule. Although some scholars say they are indigenous to the state of Rakhine.

Binay warned on joint development with China in Spratlys

Published by Ellen on April 30, 2015

While in Jakarta last week representing President Aquino in the 60th anniversary of the Asia-Africa Conference, Vice President Jejomar Binay articulated what could be a foreign policy shift for the country if he succeeds in his ambition to become president.

“China has all the capital and we have the property so why don’t we try and develop that property as a joint venture?”he said.

Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio

This is not actually new. Binay disclosed this in an interview with Manila Times’ Efren Danao last year.
Amid concerns expressed by President Aquino and Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario over massive reclamations being done by China around their occupied reefs in the disputed Spratlys in South China Sea, Binay further said: “Personally, my feeling is we will continue to insist (on) our sovereignty over those properties but at the same time we hope we can create a situation where we can improve bilateral relations with China.”

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who has been conducting a series of lectures on the South China Sea dispute, said in his lecture last April 27 with judges and justices that joint development of the Spratlys with China is not possible without violating the Constitution.