Philippines
National
De Lima urges Senate to expedite passage of bill declaring July 12 as West PH Sea day
De Lima urges Senate to expedite passage of bill declaring July 12 as West PH Sea day
Detained Senator Leila de Lima on Friday, July 9 urged the Senate to immediately pursue the passage of the proposed bill that seeks to officially declare July 12 of every year as the “West Philippine Sea Victory Day” to commemorate the country’s arbitration victory against China.
De Lima, who earlier filed Senate Bill No. 376, said the bill will solidify the country’s stand against the repeated incursions of China in the West Philippine Sea and assert the nation’s sovereign rights over its own territories.
“I hope that my esteemed colleagues in the Senate will act with dispatch on my proposed bill and help pass it into law soon not only to observe the country’s arbitration victory against China over the WPS, but also to remind the government to uphold our sovereign rights amid China’s continued bullying of our country,” De Lima said.
The measure seeks to declare the said date as a special working holiday to mark the historic decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands.
“Declaring July 12 of every year as a special working holiday dedicated to honoring this landmark decision favoring the Philippines could also help instill national pride among Filipinos while urging the Duterte administration to pursue and promote policies and programs consistent with the PCA ruling,” she added.
It was on July 12, 2016, when the Philippine government—then under President Benigno Aquino III’s administration—won in the arbitration case it filed against China.
The PCA released a decision upholding the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) rights in the WPS and declaring China’s claim—outlined by a nine-dash line covering almost 90 percent of the contested waters—as having no legal basis in international law.
The PCA ruling also found China’s large-scale land reclamation to cause severe harm to the coral reef environment. It also said China violated its obligation to preserve and protect fragile ecosystems, thus violating the Philippines’ sovereign rights in its EEZ.
Under SB No. 2201, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is mandated to “plan, design and implement activities” for the declaration to ensure the meaningful observance of the holiday.
“We should never set aside the 2016 Hague ruling but instead continue to stand against unrelenting Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea,” said De Lima, who was part of the Philippine delegation that defended the government’s case before the international arbitral tribunal.