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