Photo Courtesy of Ka Leody De Guzman Facebook Page
MANILA, Philippines — To further protect the rights of Filipino fishermen in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), presidential aspirant Leody de Guzman on Tuesday said he wants to transform the contested area into an economic zone.
In this way, the labor leader believed, claimants can agree and unite to protest China’s harassments and aggressive reclamation efforts and enforce the 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague which favored Manila in its case against Beijing’s sweeping nine-dash line claim over the entire South China Sea that includes the WPS.
“Ang aking programa ay i-convert itong WPS into an economic zone at hindi war zone. Kaya dapat dito ay mag-coordinate ‘yung lahat ng mga claimants sa mga teritority dito sa South China Sea o WPS na magkasundo at magsama sama, hindi para makipag-giyera sa China kundi dapat ipakita sa China ‘yung pagkakaisa ng mga bansang ito,” he said in a debate hosted by media network SMNI.
(My program is to convert WPS to an economic zone, not a war zone. Claimants in the territory should agree and unite, not to wage war against China, but to show China that we are united.)
“Dapat ay obligahin o kausapin ‘yung lahat ng signatory doon sa UNLCLOS a nagkasundo sa ganung patakaran na igalang, irespeto ng China ‘yung kanilang mga pinirmahan,” he added.
(All signatories should be tasked to force China to respect UNCLOS.)
“Nang sa ganun ay tigilan niya [China] ‘yung kanyang pangha-harrass o panglalamang dito sa mga bansa dito sa WPS,” De Guzman further said.
(In that way, China would stop its harassment in the WPS.)
In 2013, the Philippines, under the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III challenged before the PCA China’s claim that it has jurisdiction over more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, which includes waters in the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
Two weeks after Duterte assumed office in 2016, the tribunal ruled that China’s claim had no basis in international law and that it had violated the Philippines’ sovereign right to fish and explore resources in the West Philippine Sea, the waters within the country’s 370-km exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.
READ: PH wins arbitration case over South China Sea
Since then, the Philippines has repeatedly issued diplomatic protests against China’s harassment of Filipino fishermen as Beijing consistently refused to acknowledge the historic 2016 PCA ruling.
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