FINDING ANSWERS
Former Senator Atty. Joey D. Lina
It’s often been said that doing the same thing again and again but expecting different results is sheer insanity. Thus, some people ask, do the hundreds of diplomatic protests filed by the Philippines against China reflect some semblance of insanity?
Indeed, filing a diplomatic protest might seem an exercise in futility if the sole purpose is to have a quick and final end to China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). But a protest wouldn’t be entirely useless due to its strategic value in future legal cases when documented assaults on our country’s sovereignty/sovereign rights could help a lot.
In fact, it’s believed that among the main reasons why the Philippines won the 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated China’s nine-dash line claim of practically owning the entire South China Sea, including 3/4 of the WPS, is our country’s persistent filing of diplomatic protests since 1995 when China took over Panganiban (Mischief ) Reef which eventually became a military installation.
But while diplomatic protests have been resorted to every time China commits an act of aggression or harassment, nothing seems to deter the bully behavior that has been relentless over the years. The harassment Filipino fishermen face against China is a “daily situation that we face,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo lamented last week.
When the Chinese Coast Guard reportedly used a military-grade laser against the Philippine Coast Guard’s BRP Malapascua and caused “temporary blindness to her crew at the bridge” last Feb. 6 at Ayungin Shoal, many were outraged.
But instead of a mere diplomatic protest in the form of a note verbale lodged by the Department of Foreign Affairs, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. summoned to Malacañang Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian on Feb. 14.
“The President summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian this afternoon to express his serious concern over the increasing frequency and intensity of actions by China against the Philippine Coast Guard and our Filipino fishermen in their bancas, the latest of which was the deployment of a military grade laser against our Coast Guard vessels,” a Malacañang statement said.
Many foreign policy observers were elated with the unprecedented action. “In diplomacy, for a head of state – not merely a foreign secretary – to summon an ambassador constitutes one of the highest levels of protest against a foreign government,” it was explained.
The Philippines’ airing of its serious concern over China’s latest harassment incident gathered support from many countries like the United States, Japan, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and Denmark.
Along with the unprecedented diplomatic protest prompted by the laser incident, the government also did something different. Our coast guard’s largest vessel and flagship, the BRP Teresa Magbanua was deployed to the area to strengthen and increase its maritime patrol and provide assistance to Filipino fishermen.
Our different responses, the Malacañang summon and the deployment of our largest coast guard vessel, has brought global attention anew to the significance of the Arbitral Award. Indeed, the world needs to be constantly aware of the significance of the Award which determined that China violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Philippines’ sovereign rights in WPS by massive fishing, environmental destruction, and building artificial islands with airport and seaports, conducting maritime surveys, among others.
Unfortunately, UNCLOS has no enforcement mechanism. Bilateral talks with China to enforce the Award have proven ineffective. And all the hundreds of diplomatic protests have not stopped China’s incursions.
Thus, it is necessary to resort to other measures. The Alliance for Life and the Law of the Sea, which I helped form in 2021, has proposed a unified, multi-pronged, and whole-of-country strategy to fight off transgressions in the WPS. The DFA campaign can certainly be a major part of the strategy.
The strategy also calls for our civil society organizations to educate members on the significance of the EEZ, UNCLOS, and the Award through webinars, symposia, and town hall meetings organized at regional, provincial, city, town, and barangay levels, in cooperation with local government units. Alliances with international counterparts to enlist support for our cause must also be formed. Indeed, doing something differently this time might bring different and better results.
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