Palace adopts Recto Bank for disputed area

MANILA, Philippines—Just days after officially adopting the tag “West Philippine Sea,” instead of South China Sea, to refer to the waters west of the country where the Philippines has overlapping territorial claims with five other nations, the Philippine government particularly Malacañang has started to refer to the Reed Bank as Recto Bank, named after Claro M. Recto, a Filipino nationalist.

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda referred to the territory, also claimed by China as the Reed Bank, again in a statement calling for all parties concerned in the territorial dispute to stop making statements that get in the way of a peaceful resolution of the issue.

Lacierda indicated that the reference to the West Philippine Sea and the Recto Bank aren’t inflammatory. He said other countries with claims to the territories in the area refer to the same according to their perspective.

For instance, Lacierda said, Vietnam refers to the West Philippine Sea as its East Sea.