OSG backs DFA's position on West PH Sea
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) expressed its “strong support” to the position declared by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in maintaining the country’s rights over the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
In a statement, Solicitor General Menardo I. Guevarra said:
“The Office of the Solicitor General strongly supports the position of the DFA that the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and the 2016 arbitral award of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in favor of the Philippines shall be the anchor of all Philippine policies and actions in relation to all maritime right issues in the WPS.”
Guevarra gave his reaction after Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo on Tuesday, July 12, said: “The Award and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) are the twin anchors of the Philippines’ policy and actions on the West Philippine Sea.”
Manalo’s statement was issued on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the July 12, 2016 PCA award in favor of the claims asserted by the Philippine government.
He explained that the “UNCLOS sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out.”
“There is no recourse to general international law on matters comprehensively covered by the UNCLOS,” he said.
“Compliance with UNCLOS, which represents a delicate balance of the rights and obligations of all States Parties in its entirety, is key to ensuring global and regional peace and the fair and sustainable use of the oceans,” he added.
Manalo pointed out that the award handed by the PCA “not only sets reason and right in the South China Sea, but is an inspiration for how matters should be considered – through reason and right – by states facing similarly challenging circumstances.”
He noted that the award “upheld the Philippines’ sovereign rights and jurisdiction in its exclusive economic zone” and “affirmed that certain actions within the Philippines’ EEZ (exclusive economic zone) violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights and were thus unlawful; that large-scale reclamation and construction of artificial islands caused severe environmental harm in violation of international conventions; that the large-scale harvesting of endangered marine species damaged the marine ecosystem; and that actions taken since the commencement of the arbitration had aggravated the disputes.”
The Philippines filed before the arbitration court in The Hague in January 2013 an arbitration case against China’s expansive maritime claims under its “nine-dash line”.
In a statement issued on July 12, 2016, the PCA said “the Tribunal concluded that, as between the Philippines and China, there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources, in excess of the rights provided for by the Convention, within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line.”