Military backs DOJ’s proposed maritime law unit

MANILA, Philippines — The military has expressed its full support for the Department of Justice decision to establish a DOJ maritime law unit, as the Philippines and several other nations celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 2016 Arbitral Award covering the South China Sea.

“The AFP warmly welcomes and stands in full support of the establishment of a dedicated maritime law unit to serve as a central repository of legal expertise on the 2016 Arbitral Award and international maritime law,” said retired rear admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman for the West Philippine Sea or WPS.

“While the men and women of the AFP – together with the PCG, BFAR and other partner agencies – maintain our physical presence and patrol our waters, the DOJ’s new maritime law unit provides the critical legal armor we need to sustain our gains,” Trinidad said, referring to the Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

By strengthening domestic legal expertise and consolidating legal records, he said “the government ensures that our actions at sea remain firmly anchored in international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea” or UNCLOS.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. met with European Union Ambassador Massimo Santoro at Camp Aguinaldo yesterday to discuss “opportunities for bilateral defense relations,” the Department of National Defense said.

Teodoro and Santoro “emphasized the Philippines and EU’s commitment to the rules-based international order” in light of the 10th anniversary of the Arbitral Award.

Racist caricature

Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard hit Beijing yesterday after the state-controlled China Daily released a video portraying Filipinos as monkeys pushed by the United States and Japan to assert claims on the WPS.

Angered over the material, Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesman for the WPS, said China has belittled and humiliated Filipinos in the caricature.

“This is outright racism and an open mockery of international law – portraying the Philippines as a monkey and dismissing the Arbitral Award as nothing more than a script written by the US and Japan,” said Tarriela. “Fellow Filipinos, we are not monkeys and we must not allow ourselves to be treated as monkeys!”

On the claim that Batanes is part of China, independent monitoring group SeaLight said Jinan University has rewritten its report.

According to the group, the university took down its report on the scholars’ conclusion at the symposium that China should claim sovereignty over Batanes and increase coast guard presence and military countermeasures on the island.

However, the texts were still available on at least three Chinese state channels, including Global Times, GDToday, and National Institute for South China Sea Studies.

Under the rewritten version, SeaLight said Jinan University omitted portions of the report that sounded “a little too state-coordinated.” — Andrew Ronquillo