By Fernan Angeles
RECENT actions of Malacañang declining to join other countries in Southeast Asia patrolling at the West Philippine Sea amid an aggressive military assertion by China at the disputed area, could have prompted a lowly mayor of a small island municipality in Palawan to name four sandbars and two coral reefs.
Municipal mayor Maurice Philip Albayda from the largest Filipino occupied island municipality at the Spratlys stood firm on their claim asserting jurisdiction and sovereignty over the six areas off the West Philippine Sea.
What Albayda did was to provide local names to their sandbars, reefs and outcrops to assert jurisdiction and sovereign authority over areas which form part of what Beijing refer to as the South China Sea.
Interestingly, Kalayaan town is largest Filipino-occupied island at the Spratlys, called Pag-Asa.
Albayda issued an ordinance, naming the sandbars Pag-Asa Cay 1, Pag-Asa Cay 2, Pag-Asa Cay 3 and Pag-Asa Cay 4; and the reefs, Pag-Asa Reef 1 and Pag-Asa Reef 2.
“Ang hakbangin ng ordinansang ito ay isang pagpapakita ng suporta at pagnanais ng pamahalaang lokal ng Kalayaan sa Palawan na pagtibayin pang lalo ang ating soberenya’t karapatan sa Kanlurang Karagatan ng Pilipinas. Kaisa po tayo ng bawat Pilipinong nagsusulong ng adbokasiyang ipaglaban ang ating teritoryo,” Albayda was quoted on the municipality’s Facebook page.
The Philippines asserted its claim, and won against China, before a United Nations-backed arbitration court in 2016. The ruling was based on UNCLOS or the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states how far out at sea countries can claim as their territory or exploit exclusively.
Noted constitutionalists and retired judicial personalities have hinted on diplomatic tracks to resolving the South China Sea disputes. On the ASEAN level, the Philippines is pushing for a binding Code of Conduct between China and ASEAN claimants. Bilaterally, Manila and China signed an agreement to start discussions on a potential oil and gas deal. Foreign Affairs Sec. Teddy Locsin Jr. called this an “agreement to agree.”
While efforts are being done by the Philippines to remedy the dispute, China opted to fortify its claim by building massive structures over reefs and outcrops claimed by the Philippines.
Such aggressive move, the US government said, could be used to establish an Air Defense Identification Zone in the area.