Filipino security and maritime law experts were dismayed by the Philippines\u2019 decision to sidestep the South China Sea dispute and set aside the country\u2019s historic legal victory in the arbitral tribunal while chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) . Professor Jay Batongbacal, director of…<\/b>
\nMANILA \u2014 Filipino security and maritime law experts were dismayed by the Philippines\u2019 decision to sidestep the South China Sea dispute and set aside the country\u2019s historic legal victory in the arbitral tribunal while chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) .
Professor Jay Batongbacal, director of the UP College of Law Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea minced no words.
\u201cThe Philippine leadership of Asean is now overshadowed by its deference to China on the disputes, \u201d Batongbacal told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a text message.
\u201cWith this, the Philippine and Asean claimants will see little or no progress in the management of the disputes, despite the opportunity provided by the award and its determination of their maritime rights outside of the sovereignty issues, \u201d he said.
Aside from the Philippines, other Asean claimant countries are Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Brunei.
The Philippines sits as Asean chair on the 50th founding anniversary of the regional bloc known for its slow, consensus-building approach in addressing concerns.
The much-anticipated Asean chairman\u2019s statement was released early\u00a0 Sunday morning, amid rumors that China had pressured the Philippine government not to mention its legal victory in the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague in July 2016.
Experts have already expected the toned down statement, but not a complete absence of the arbitral tribunal ruling in the statement.
The Aquino administration had brought China to court for arbitration in 2013, questioning its so-called nine-dash line demarcation that it uses to claim almost the entire South China Sea.
The international court sided with the Philippines, in effect giving legal victory also to other South China Sea claimants.
Batongbacal and other experts believed that the Philippines\u2019 legal victory has given the Asean opportunity to have the \u201cmoral high ground\u201d in settling the maritime row with China.
\u201cThe Philippines\u2019 refusal to discuss the award squarely indicates a refusal to immediately find common ground and join with our neighbors on a matter of mutual interest. This makes it more difficult for Asean to agree soon on a consistent and unified basis for dealing with China and the maritime disputes. The award provided the foundation for that common ground, \u201d Batongbacal said.
For security analyst Francisco Ashley Acedillo, the Philippines \u201cdropped the ball on this one.\u201d
Acedillo, a former Magdalo partylist representative, said that the \u201centire Asean was expecting us to take the moral high ground especially coming off an astounding legal victory in the PCA.\u201d
\u201cInstead of taking the cudgels in giving China notice of its clear violations of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, the 2002 Declaration on the Code of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea as well as the provisions of UNCLOS, we have allowed Asean again \u2013 and ironically under our watch \u2013 to pave the way for China to continue along its path of impunity, \u201d he said.
Acedillo said that, indeed, there have been \u201cdiplomatic issuances\u2026 couched in language more often too polite and sterile to be both unambiguous and effective.\u201d
But he stressed that the Chairman\u2019s statement, delivered by President Duterte, \u201csounded so typical of him and how he sidesteps substantive issues like the South China Sea.\u201d
Acedillo said that he agreed with the Duterte administration\u2019s thrust of being \u201cbetter friends with China, \u201d adding that certainly, he also wanted peace and stability in the South China Sea.
\u201cBut like all solid friendships, big and small, we do want ASEAN\u2019s friendship with China to be built on a solid foundation. Real friendship is, among other things, built on tough love. And that requires telling your friend (in this case China) , it has been wrong on several counts in the case of the South China Sea, \u201d he said.
University of the Philippines professor Chester Cabalza told the INQUIRER in a separate statement that the mention in the joint communiqu\u00e9 of key phrases such as \u201cthe importance of freedom of navigation and overflight in and above the South China Sea and the completion of a framework of the Code of Conduct (COC) \u201d affirmed \u201cthe leaders\u2019 commitment to maintain peace and stability in the region.\u201d
\u201cHowever, it misses the context and other substantial narratives on Manila\u2019s arbitration triumph and Beijing\u2019s continuous militarization in the disputed islands to give us a holistic view about this protracted debate concerning the security of the region, \u201d Cabalza pointed out.
In the Laos statement in 2016, Cabalza said it was significant that Asean called out the militarization and reclamation in the South China Sea, at the same time emphasizing the need to follow the rule of law.
\u201cIn a way, it was a strong statement. [This time] we had long sentences, but the mention of the Code of Conduct, which we want to be completed, was the \u2018consuelo de bobo\u2019 , \u201d Cabalza said.
Cabalza said that the Philippines\u2019 statement as Asean chair \u201cwill surely affect the tone and position of Asean which will be put to test in more upcoming multilateral engagements under Philippines chairmanship this year.\u201d
\u201cSuch joint communiqu\u00e9 will either be carried on or ignored as other dialogue partners will participate later on in the East Asia Summit and the Asean-Plus Summit in November in which case there will be new developments in the South China Sea and in the progress of the COC (COC) , \u201d Cabalza said. SFM<\/p>\n