IS Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto R. Yasay Jr. contravening the Philippines’s claim that Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) is part of the country’s territory, as shown by the 300-year-old Murillo map and other proofs submitted to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague?
The BusinessMirror posed this question to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), after Yasay was quoted on Sunday as saying “the Scarborough Shoal, which is called Bajo de Masinloc and Panatag Shoal by the Philippines, is part of international waters.”
DFA Spokesman Charles C. Jose did not directly answer the question but said: “Bajo de Masinloc is inside our 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone [EEZ].”
Yasay on Sunday said: “Dapat lamang malaman ng ating taumbayan na ang isinumite na kaso na dedesisyunan ng arbitral tribunal ay tungkol lamang sa Unclos [United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea]… ano ang extent ng ating exclusive economic zone. Hindi ito na kung manalo tayo ay ibig sabihin ay paalisin natin ang kung sinuman ang nandiyan sa area na iyan. We do not have that authority dahil international waters ito,” Yasay added. He said he is making the clarification, so as not to “raise our people’s expectations.”
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague is expected to hand down its ruling on Tuesday. The Philippines said it is expected that the tribunal will probably favor the Philippines pleading to rule on our maritime rights, which includes the right to exploit the marine resources, including the gas and oil beneath the seabed, based on our EEZ.
Jose said the tribunal will hand down its decision first to the contending parties, the Philippines and China at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Murillo map, which was published in Manila in 1734, is the first and most important scientific map of the Philippines, which at that time was a vital part of the Spanish Empire. The map shows the maritime routes from Manila to Spain and to New Spain (Mexico and other Spanish territory in the New World), with captions.
Out of some 4,000 pages of pleading that the Philippines submitted to the tribunal, the Murillo map was the most telling.
The tribunal’s decision, if favorable to the Philippines, would strengthen the country’s bargaining capability if in the end, China would agree to return to negotiation on a bilateral basis. China, since the start of the arbitration, had said they will not participate and will not recognize the ruling. A favorable decision to the Philippines would be the country’s greatest leverage to convince China, including members of the Group-of-20 advanced economies, that a negotiated settlement to the dispute is one of the peaceful ways to address the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) conflict.
However, Yasay’s statements ahead of the ruling seem to undermine the Philippines’s position, which the government painstakingly gathered from many sources for the last 17 years.
Yasay said: “Gusto ko lang ipaliwanag sa kanila ang katotohanan. Ang desisyon ng international tribunal ‘We just recognize or not recognize’ our rights over these disputed territories as part of our exclusive economic zone,” he said. “Kung sabihin ng arbitral tribunal this is part of our exclusive economic zone, kaya ang ating mga mangingisda ay puwede nang mangisda ulit sa Scarborough ay tiyakin natin na maproteksyunan ng ating gobyerno ang ating fishermen para makabalik sa Scarborough. Iyon ang ini-expect natin na magiging desisyon ng arbitral tribunal.”
He added: “At ang ibig sabihin din ng magiging desisyon kung manalo tayo ay that continues to be an international water.” Yasay said the Philippines has an obligation to make sure that “that international water will be free for navigation and free also for overflight operation.”
The DFA published in April 2012 the “Philippine position on Bajo de Masinloc [Scarborough Shoal] and the waters within its vicinity.”
It says Scarborough Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc “is an integral part of the Philipine territory.”
“It is part of the municipality of Masinloc, province of Zambales. It is 124 nautical miles west of Zambales and is within the 200 nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Philippine Continental Shelf,” the position paper added.
An online article on The Wire said the PCA opined that, when it delivers its verdict today, “it is likely to stay clear of three sensitive issues.”
First, the PCA will not decide on the validity or legality of the “nine-dash line” rule that has been invoked by China to assert its “sovereignty” over islands and other maritime features in the South China Sea.
Second, the PCA will not assess whether new “islands” created by China through sand-dredging and land-reclamation since 2013 constitute sovereign territory. And third, the arbitral tribunal will make no attempt to delineate a maritime boundary that is acceptable to China and the Philippines.
Image credits: AP