‘Arbitral Award to endure beyond administrations’

MANILA, Philippines — Although continuously ignored or even disparaged by China, the landmark 2016 Arbitral Award that invalidated its sweeping sea claims and upheld the Philippines’ maritime entitlements will endure beyond administrations.

This was according to Solicitor General Darlene Berberabe in a speech during an event hosted by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to mark the 10th anniversary today of the Arbitral Award issued by the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague.

The ruling “endures to this day not because it was rendered in The Hague, but because the Republic decided in our Constitution, in our laws, in our institutions and outward in our dealings with the world, to live by it,” she said.

“Administrations change. Emphasis shifts. Budgets rise and fall. The Republic, however, is a continuing client, and the decade’s work has moved the award’s protection beyond the reach of any single season of politics,” she pointed out.

“For 10 years, through every test, the Filipino people have chosen to live by the award,” she also said.

Even after securing a favorable ruling, the Philippines has rightly undertaken initiatives to fortify the country’s maritime claims and ultimately its sovereignty.

She cited for instance the enactment of the Philippine Maritime Zones Act and the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act both in 2024, as well as Executive Order 111 on the naming of the West Philippine Sea and 131 features in the Kalayaan Island Group in official Philippine maps last March in support of the ruling.

“The protection of our marine patrimony is not a policy that administrations may take up or sit down as they please,” she said.

The “international award, woven thread by thread into domestic legal obligation, paper into law and law into practice,” reflects “what enduring protection looks like in a republic of laws,” Berberabe said in a report by NewsWatch+ Philippines.

Then solicitor general Francis Jardeleza represented the Philippine government in filing the arbitration case against China in 2013 during the Aquino administration. The arbitral court would decide in favor of the Philippines three years later.

Commitment reaffirmed

Meanwhile, the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have renewed their commitment to defend the country’s sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea.

“Ultimately, we will resist and combat any attempt to deny our rights and entitlements in the West Philippine Sea – for these are not only ours to protect, but also those of future generations of Filipinos,” Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said in a statement.

“Let’s embrace the West Philippine Sea. It’s ours. Di ka pasisiil – we shall never yield,” he said. China has banned Teodoro and his family from entering mainland China and its territories.

He said the DND joins the nation in celebrating the 10th anniversary of the 2016 Arbitral Award that it calls “a landmark ruling that affirmed the Philippines’ rights and entitlements in its exclusive economic zone.” — Michael Punongbayan