Ateneo alumni urge gov’t to resist China’s expansion in West Philippine Sea

West Philippine Sea INQUIRER FILE

MANILA, Philippines — At least 82 Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) alumni belonging to different classes have signed a statement calling on the government to use all available diplomatic and legal tools to resist China’s creeping invasion of the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

According to the joint statement from the members of the ADMU high school classes of 1966, 1970, and the  Management Engineering class of 1971, the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte must form and implement a robust strategy to counter the actions of China in the disputed region.

“Denouncing the administration’s policy of ‘total surrender to China’, the alumni proposed the employment of ‘the full range of legal, diplomatic and other tools at our disposal to implement the course of action,” read the joint statement that was signed by the Ateneo alumni.

“They recalled that the UNCLOS arbitral tribunal sitting at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague had ruled with finality in 2016 that China’s nine-dash line claim which covered about 80 percent of our country’s EEZ was ‘without factual or legal basis,’” the statement added.

The Ateneo alumni added that defending the country’s territory is a sacred duty that the government owes to the previous generations who have stood up against foreign incursion.

“Instead of asserting our rights under the landmark ruling, the present regime has declared it is a mere scrap of paper because China is allegedly in possession of the WPS,” the signatories of the statement noted.

According to the alumni, a proactive resistance to China’s expansionism in the WPS is a “sacred duty” to “past generations that have shed their blood for our freedom and to future generations who will lose their patrimony and freedom if they failed to live up to their sacrosanct obligations.”

The National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) reported the presence of over 200 Chinese maritime militia vessels from March to April, near the Julian Felipe Reef in the West Philippine Sea.

The reef is just 175 nautical miles west of Bataraza, Palawan, and is inside the country’s exclusive economic zone.

READ: Over 200 Chinese vessels moored at West Philippine Sea reef

READ: Chinese militia vessels still in West Philippine Sea – task force

Administration critics like former senior associate justice Antonio Carpio and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario urged President Duterte to use the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling on the maritime dispute that favored the Philippines.

According to the PCA decision, the Philippines has exclusive rights to the West Philippine Sea, and that China’s nine-dash territorial claim has no historical and legal basis.

However, Duterte maintained that the only way to retake the WPS is through force, and has maintained that a war with China would prove too costly for the country.  Duterte also repeatedly said that his Chinese counterpart Xi Jingping has warned of a possible military conflict should the Philippines assert its territorial claims.

READ: PH wins arbitration case over South China Sea

READ: Duterte on PH court win over China: ‘That’s just paper; I’ll throw that in the wastebasket’

Here is a full list of the Ateneo alumni who signed the statement:

1. Hector Sanvictores

2. Veredigno Atienza

3. George Reyes

4. Antonio Carpio

5. Felipe Buencamino

6. Boni Macaranas

7. Carmelito Anzures

8. Bernardino De Guzman

9. Efren Tungpalan

10. Nilo Santos

11. Armand Bacaltos

12. Cesar Duque

13. Ernie Garcia

14. Frankie Singian

15. Rodolfo C. Barretto

16. Jun Borlongan

17. Francisco Chua Chiaco

18. Jorge del Rosario

19. Alberto A. Lim

20. Stephen Lacambra

21. Jaime Villalon

22. Dinky Bantug

23. Reynaldo Reyes

24. Eduardo L. David

25. Carmelo Navarro

26. Rafael Roxas

27. Lamberto Meer

28. Pete Villalon

29. Ernesto Ibarra

30. Domingo Diaz

31. Joaquin Montenegro

32. Dominador Hular

33. Angel Lahoz

34. Gerardo Isada

35. Vicente Betos

36. Carlos Guadarrama

37. Anthony Abaya

38. Jose Galvez

39. Ramon R. Zamora

40. Antonio Paraiso

41. Francisco Gomez

42. Remo Vallejo Jr.

43. Jose Villarama Jr.

44. Renato Tolentino

45. Manuel Manapat

46. Alex Cancio

47. Wilfrido Sison

48. Pietro Reyes

49. Melvyn Relova

50. Joel Moral

51. Reynaldo Guieb

52. Linggoy Alcuaz

53. Bobby Austria

54. Francisco Santiago

55. Jose Baltasar

56. Cesar Rodriguez, Jr.

57. Alexis Verzosa

58. Manolo Arnaldo

59. Allan Ayson

60. Lorenzo de la Torre

61. Renato Montemayor

62. Rodolfo Peralejo

63. Raoul Rojas

64. Jacinto Gavino

65. Simplicio Belisario Jr.

66. Vince Tan

67. Pedro Medalla Jr.

68. Willie Ramos

69. Jose Ma. Coscolluela

70. Eusebio Tanco

71. Manuel Fernandez

72. Rene Santayana

73. Ramon Arteficio

74. Dario Pagcaliwagan

75. Rene Aguila

76. Ramon Neri

77. Ramon del Rosario

78. Dilip Mirchandani

79. Teofilo Yap

80. Emmanuel Encarnacion

81. Gregorio B. Araneta

82. Jose F. Samson

/MUF