J. Albert Gamboa l June 3, 2022 l The Manila Times
A DAY after he was proclaimed by Congress as the next president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. held a press conference where he vowed to uphold the country’s 2016 arbitral victory against China that validated our rights in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), in a landmark ruling, ruled in favor of the Philippines. It settled a maritime dispute involving our nation’s territorial right to exploit natural resources within our exclusive economic zone, which China refuses to recognize up to now.
Marcos said “it is not a claim, it is already our territorial right and that is what the arbitral ruling can do to help us.” He vowed never to allow a single square millimeter of our maritime coast to be trampled upon and answered his own question: “How do we do that? We talk to China consistently, with a firm voice.” In a recent webinar organized by the National Youth Movement for the West Philippine Sea, retired Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio welcomed Marcos’ statement as a “dramatic and surprising sea change,” which is the only correct position any Philippine president can take on the WPS issue.
It may be recalled that Carpio consistently criticized China’s incursions into our territorial waters as well as President Rodrigo Duterte‘s pivot to China, setting aside the arbitral ruling in exchange for Beijing’s aid and promises of investments.
Another critic of Duterte’s China pivot, former top diplomat Albert del Rosario, lauded Marcos’ pronouncement and expressed hoped that he “would stand by his words to protect the WPS for the benefit of Filipinos.” Del Rosario headed the Philippines’ arbitration team in the PCA when he was the Foreign Affairs secretary during the administration of President Benigno Aquino 3rd.
Del Rosario added that “in terms of protecting our national territory, we believe that upholding the 2016 arbitral ruling is the right thing to do and a correct start.” He recommended that the incoming government consolidate support for the award at the United Nations General Assembly and build up the country’s defense capability while holding China accountable for “environmental crimes” in the WPS.
During the same webinar, retired US Navy officer Carl Schuster said that while it was too early to tell precisely what Marcos’ foreign policy would be, his initial statement “suggested that he would attempt to balance the Philippines’ relations with both China and the United States.” Schuster is a professor of military science and diplomacy at the Hawaii Pacific University.
According to a political pundit who attended the webinar, the president-elect “wants to tell the world that he is patriotic to his country and supportive of the people’s wishes, but for the WPS issue, the 31 million Filipino voters [who voted for him] would be watching how he will navigate in a complex ocean.” Marcos’ media statement on the maritime conflict has been praised by his erstwhile critics although it may only be lip service until the nation reaps the benefits of his first foreign policy pronouncement. With his mantra of unity, he might just be trying to reconcile dissenting opinions regarding the WPS, which has emerged as a murky geopolitical issue.
“Our sovereignty is sacred and we will not compromise it in any way,” he declared. Will he be pro-China or pro-America? How can he muster a genuine balancing act between these two giant economies? That will be the ultimate test of his statesmanship.
***The author is the chief finance officer of the Asian Center for Legal Excellence and chairman of the Finex Media Affairs Committee. The opinion expressed herein does not necessarily reflect the views of these institutions and The Manila Times.