The Philippines fails to secure ASEAN support in Spratlys dispute

ASEAN member like Malaysia; don’t want to resort their claim over the Spratlys to the United Nations because most part of the Spratlys is in the Philippines, besides Malaysia also overlapped their claim to the Philippines Water. One of the bases of Malaysia is the land of Sabah or North Borneo which still the Philippines have the state to regain it back, so Malaysia is not so interested to bring the issue in the higher court.

For Vietnam; they claim all part of the Spratlys including the Philippines water not according to the UNCLOS guidelines so Vietnam will not support the Philippines to raise the issue in the higher court. Besides, Vietnam knows that their claim Spratlys is belong to the Sultanate of Sulu which anytime will regain power under the Philippines so the claim if Vietnam would be invalid if the Sultanate of Sulu will rise again as the Spratlys is belong to the Ancestral Domain of the Royal Sultanate State which deprived with power by the Spain.

For Brunei, they will just back up to the Philippines because they knew that only a little portion of their Spratlys is their claim so before their claim would be affected; China must defeat the Philippines first.

For the Sultanate of Sulu; which is under the Philippines Government; they don’t need to claim as the Philippines Government do it in their behalf if they will rise back into power; the Spratlys is belong to their ancestral domains so the bases of claim for the Philippines would be more strengthen.

Philippines Fails

The Philippines will now be resorting to unilateral measures in order to secure its claim over disputed islands in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) in international courts after it failed to secure support from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in opposing China’s claim over the islands.

Members of ASEAN are in Bali, Indonesia for the 44th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario on Tuesday said during the meeting that the region would not be able to move to the proposed adoption of the guidelines of the Declaration of Conduct (DOC) in the South China Sea signed between ASEAN and China because of Beijing’s “9-dash line" map petition before the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

The “9-dash line" or “9-dotted line" map shows a series of nine dashes or dotted lines that form a ring around an area in the South China Sea that includes the Spratlys group, which China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines have also claimed wholly or in part as their own.

“ASEAN should unite and question the definition and the reason for China’s nine-dash line petition," said del Rosario.

On Tuesday, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged ASEAN foreign ministers to hasten the creation of guidelines on the DOC.

“We had an extensive debate because we informed [the ASEAN foreign ministers] that China’s 9-dash line map petition is a game changer to the DOC," he added.

Available legal measures

Del Rosario added that despite China’s refusal to join the Philippines in bringing the issue in front of international courts, legal measures in the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS) are still available for the Philippines to unilaterally pursue its case.

“I suggested that [the Philippines] go to bring the matter to international courts… and we have to do it alone," the Foreign Affairs chief added.

Indonesia, the current chair of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting and the ASEAN Regional Forum, said that the bloc will not interfere in the Philippines’ move to go to international courts.

Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa said measures of ASEAN members to settle disputes in international courts are in “complimentarity and synergy" with the regional bloc’s rules.

“[Going to international courts to settle a claim] is a policy choice that is available to a sovereign country… and [ASEAN members] are not going to bottleneck with that effort," he added.

Del Rosario said that under UNCLOS, there are a “menu of choices" to deal with territorial disputes such as bringing the case to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, Germany or the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The both-parties rule

The Philippines, however, cannot resort to these courts as China has already objected to being a party to the case — the courts require both parties to participate in territorial disputes.

Del Rosario said the Philippines can resort to the Ad Hoc Arbitration and a “Special Arbitral Tribunal" made for certain kinds of disputes. There, measures do not require submission from China.

ASEAN foreign ministers have already agreed to send their legal experts to the Philippines next September to study the country’s proposal as well as to suggest an agreement that will differentiate the disputed from the non-disputed areas in South China Sea.

The Philippines had proposed the adoption of an agreement entitled “Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship, and Cooperation in the South China Sea" that would oppose China’s claims on the Spratlys Islands, which they call the Nansha Islands.

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Philippines calm China's concerns over lawmakers' visit to Spratlys

(July 20, 2011) the Philippines; even though they knew that most part of the spratlys is within the Philippines territory in UNCLOS Law of Seas 200 nautical miles and historical bases of Sultanate of Sulu as all island and Spratlys is the ancestral domains of the Filipino Muslims in the Sultanate of Sulu (North Borneo or Sabah, Palawan, Spratlys, Part of Mindanao and Sulu) , still the Philippines respect the Declaration of Conduct (DOC) with a very reconciling voice to calm down china.

The Philippine government calms China’s concern over the visit of four Filipino lawmakers to the disputed Spratlys Islands, to which the two countries are both claimants.

The House of Representatives did not authorize the trip of five lawmakers to the Spratly Islands as part of their peace and sovereignty mission to the disputed area.

"Insofar as the leadership is concerned, I only know about it from what I read in the papers. They can go in their own capacities. They’re congressmen but we can't say that’s sanctioned trip (of the House). They’re free to go there if someone allowed them to go there. It’s a military zone. It's not like anyone who can just fly there and try to fish in the area," said Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr

At a press briefing in Malacañang, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda expressed hope that the visit will not hamper the bilateral relations between the two countries.

“The [Department of Foreign Affairs] is in constant discussion with the Chinese Embassy and as much as we recognize Chinese concerns over this we hope that it will not hamper relations between China and the Philippines," he said.

China’s government, through its embassy in Manila, has earlier said the visit serves no purpose but to undermine peace and stability in the region and sabotage Philippines-China relations.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao went to his office Tuesday afternoon to express the sentiments of his government regarding the visit.

“I explained to the [Chinese] Ambassador yesterday when he called on me that that is how our system of government is operating. They are a co-equal branch of the executive," he said at a forum in Malacañang, referring to the legislative branch of the government.

Despite China’s apprehension, the four lawmakers — Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Brawner Baguilat, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, and Akbayan Representatives Walden Bello and Arlene Bag-ao flew — pushed through with their plan to visit Kalayaan Islands, a part of the Spratlys but is well within Philippine territory, July 20, 2011 (Wednesday)  morning via chartered planes.

Law makers visit not offensive – No weapons attach

Conejos said he does not consider the visit as provocative and will not discourage other lawmakers from doing so.

“As I said, the legislature is a coordinate branch of the government and I leave it to the discretion of the congressmen who went there in the exercise of sound judgment to determine the purpose and objective of their mission," he told reporters after the forum.

Lacierda, meanwhile, refused to comment if Malacañang will bar other government officials from going to the disputed island. “I think let us cross the bridge when we get there the next time around," he said.

“Right now it is futile for me to say one thing or the other. It is an operative act already. To comment one way or the other would just create more unnecessary media mileage on this whole thing," he added.

Lacierda reassured China that the Philippine government will continue holding dialogues with it regarding the matter. “The mere fact the Chinese ambassador was able to speak to Undersecretary Conejos is a manifestation of open lines of communication between the two parties."

He said the thrust of the Philippines with respect to engaging China is to have a multilateral dialogue and to involve and engage the other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“That is a process the Philippines government believes is the most logical way of resolving disputes among claimants in the West Philippines Sea," Lacierda said.

The Chinese government, however, wants to do it country to country.

“The attitude of the Philippine government is to have a rules based approach to the issues on Spratlys. That is the reason why we are looking at forums where we can specifically address issues on international law so that is the reason why we are raising it before the international tribunal," Lacierda reiterated.

The Spratlys, a group of islets in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) and believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits, are being claimed in whole or in part by China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines.

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