The 2016 arbitral ruling favoring the Philippines is finally being used by the current administration as leverage to advance the country’s interests with respect to the West Philippine Sea issue, an expert said.

Professor Richard Heydarian, a Manila-based academic and columnist, lauded President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. for leveraging the arbitral ruling under his leadership.

“Finally we’re seeing under the current administration some efforts to leverage what was not leveraged for whatever reason that we have right now and sana naman itong isyu ng West Philippine Sea huwag nating gawing (and I hope that we do not make this issue on the West Philippine Sea a) partisan issue,” Heydarian said in a forum in Quezon City on Saturday, Aug. 19.

Heydarian also debunked claims that the 2016 arbitration award is just a piece of paper and has no value.

He described it as the biggest lie, saying that since the release of the arbitration award, China has not invoked its nine-dash line concept.

“So actually it worked in a sense that China is not using nine-dash line,” Heydarian said.

“So, hindi po totoo na hindi gumana iyong arbitration award (it is not true that the arbitration award did not work) – it gave us a leverage. Ang totoo naman is hindi natin na-maximize itong leverage na iyan and for me, in fairness naman kay (The truth is we were not able to maximize this leverage and for me, in fairness to) President Marcos, I think he recently mentioned that we are talking to… potentially do what Indonesia and Vietnam (are) doing which is you know maritime border delimitation based on prevailing international law,” the professor said.

Heydarian said Filipinos must “have unity with purpose” and also have oneness in terms of appreciating the validity of the arbitral ruling based on the prevailing international law or the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

He added that even Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia have been invoking the 2016 arbitration award directly or indirectly with regard to threats posed by China and in defending their claims “because they see the value of what we did.”

Another benefit of the award is that it provided a legal basis for other non-claimant countries such as the United States to be more confident in conducting freedom of navigation operations, Heydarian further said.

On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague adjudicating the Philippines’ case against China in the South China Sea ruled overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippines.

It determined that major elements of China’s claim—including its nine-dash line, recent land reclamation activities, and other activities in Philippine waters — have no legal basis.