Palace wants new law strengthening PH claim over KIG

MANILA – Malacañang on Thursday urged Congress to craft a measure that would strengthen the Philippines’ claim over the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG).

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made the call, following the reported presence of nearly 300 Chinese maritime militia (CMM) vessels in different areas in Palawan’s Kalayaan municipality which is both within and outside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

“Sa ating mambabatas, kinakailangan po tayong bumuo ng bagong batas para po magkaroon ng mas malakas na angkla ang ating titulo diyan po sa Kalayaan Island Group (To our lawmakers, we need to craft a new law to strengthen our claim over Kalayaan Island Group),” Roque said.

The Philippines, through Presidential Decree (PD) 1596 issued in 1987 by the late president Ferdinand Marcos, anchors its claim over KIG by attaching it to Palawan province.

Roque, however, stressed the need to pass a law amending PD 1956 to enable the Philippines to have an “effective occupation” of KIG.

“Kinakailangan po talagang repasuhin iyan ng Kongreso. Iwan na po natin iyan sa Kongreso dahil hindi naman po iyan katungkulan ng isang Presidente (Congress really needs to introduce amendments [to PD 1956] because that cannot be done by a president),” he said.

On Wednesday, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) said the country’s maritime patrol on May 9 spotted around 287 Chinese maritime militia vessels in various features of the municipality of Kalayaan.

Maritime patrols conducted on May 9 showed “bigger groupings” of Chinese vessels were spotted in Chinese-built artificial islands, while some were observed near islands occupied by the Philippines, the NTF-WPS said.

Two CMM and two Houbei-class missile warships were also found inside Panganiban (Mischief) Reef), one CMM at Lawak (Nanshan Island), 11 CMMs at approximately 29 nautical miles southwest of Recto (Reed) Bank, and one CMM at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.

The NTF-WPS said one Chinese Coast Guard vessel was also seen at the shoal during an earlier patrol on May 7.

Not entire WPS claimed by PH

Roque said the NTF-WPS should put into proper context the exact locations of Chinese vessels in the disputed sea.

“‘Yung report na iyan, dapat ilagay sa konteksto kasi hindi natin alam exactly kung nasaan sila. Maraming portions po diyan, claimed ng ibang mga claimant, bagama’t ang common claimant ay Tsina (The report should be put into context because we do not know exactly where they are. There are portions of the sea being claimed by other claimants, although the common claimant is China),” he said.

Roque issued the statement, as he stressed that the Philippines is not claiming the entire WPS.

He said the Philippines should only be concerned over its claimed areas in WPS that are being occupied by China.

“So huwag nating problemahin ‘yung buong West Philippine Sea kasi hindi naman buong West Philippine Sea, ‘yung buong South China Sea na tinatawag ng Tsina, ay kini-claim din natin (So let’s not stress ourselves over issues concerning the entire West Philippine Sea because we do not claim the entire West Philippine or South China Sea),” Roque said.

The Philippines on July 12, 2016 won its petition filed before the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) after the international court ruled against China’s supposedly historic rights over almost the entire disputed WPS.

China has repeatedly ignored the PCA ruling, while the Philippines has sought to resolve the maritime dispute through a diplomatic approach.

Other countries with competing claims in the highly-contested WPS are Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

China’s acquired territories ‘won’t ripen into title’

Roque assured the public that China’s building of artificial islands in areas within the Philippines’ EEZ should not be a cause for concern.

Citing the international law, Roque said the use of violence to acquire territories in the disputed territories sea would “never ripen into title.”

“Ano ang epekto ng artificial islands sa lugar lalung-lalo na sa sinabi ng arbitral tribunal na kabahagi natin ng EEZ? Wala po (What is the effect of China’s building of artificial islands in areas that are part of our EEZ, as said by the arbitral tribunal? None),” Roque said.

Roque also guaranteed that President Rodrigo Duterte’s existing agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping to maintain a “status quo” in WPS is “working”.

“The policy of the President is consistent and has not changed and as I said, has worked,” he said.

‘Virtual’ debate

Meantime, Roque said he was able to convince former Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio to a virtual” debate on issues concerning WPS.

He, however, did not elaborate on the exact date and time the public can watch the online debate between him and Carpio.

“Kanina po, nagkaroon kami ng virtual debate ni justice Carpio. At panuorin po natin iyan mamaya sa isang channel (Early this morning, we had a virtual debate with former justice Carpio. Let us watch that later on a television channel),” he said, without naming the specific television channel.

Last week, Duterte challenged Carpio to a formal debate on issues concerning territorial issues on WPS. The President eventually backed out and decided to assign Roque to debate Carpio on his behalf upon his Cabinet members’ advice.