South China Sea: Philippines should legislate ‘gains’ of arbitral win, group says
- Three experts, including an official who was part of the Philippine legal team behind the arbitration, want the government to enforce the country’s claims
- But a critic says the measure is ‘unnecessary’ and won’t help to end the impasse between Beijing and Manila five years after the international tribunal’s ruling
Francis Jardeleza, a retired supreme court justice, said he and two others had drafted a bill, called the “Philippine Maritime Features of the West Philippine Sea Act”, that would help the government to enforce its claims over more than 100 features in the waterway.
In a letter sent to Duterte on Saturday, Jardeleza urged the president to certify “as urgent” the enactment of the proposed measure, which has prompted a mixed reaction from analysts.
“July 12, 2021 will mark the fifth anniversary of the July 12, 2016 award in the South China Sea Arbitration, which you affirmed in your first State of the Nation address, and reaffirmed in your September 23, 2020 policy speech before the United Nations General Assembly,” the letter said. “Unfortunately, almost five years after the Award, our country seems still divided on how best to enforce it.”
Jardeleza, who was part of the Philippine legal team behind the arbitration, said that legislation would be “the best, most efficient and practical option” to enforce the award handed to the Philippines by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
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Philippine coastguard sends strong warning to Chinese vessels during South China Sea patrol
The draft measure proposes a new baselines law to break the impasse by naming at least 128 maritime features in the South China Sea over which the Philippines “has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction”, as well as 35 “identified offshore rock or high-tide features” around which the country would draw individual baselines.