PH needs major re-thinking of foreign policy on West Philippine Sea disputes –maritime law expert

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Oct 27): PH needs major re-thinking of foreign policy on West Philippine Sea disputes –maritime law expert

Recent spats involving disputes in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) call for a major re-examination of Philippine foreign policy, and the long-standing scheme of “compartmentalization” of maritime boundary issues has caused relations between the Philippines and China to deteriorate. This was the main message of the lecture given by Dr. Jay Batongbacal, an expert on international marine environmental law and Law of the Sea, at the Ateneo de Manila University Professorial Schools at the Rockwell Center in Makati Wednesday. His lecture entitled “Maritime Philippines in the Asian Century: Global Environment Change, Regional Economic Integration, Geo-political realities, and Contested Legal Spaces” was part of the 11th Jaime V. Ongpin Annual Memorial Lecture on Public Service in Business and Government. In his lecture, Batongbacal, also professor at the UP College of Law, argued for a serious rethinking of the “compartmentalization policy” – the notion of separating territorial maritime boundary issues from the broader context of state to state relations – saying that this has resulted in addressing the maritime boundary problems in a “vacuum, as if it exists solely and separately without regard to its potential impact on other national interests and other relations with other states....”

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/54334/ph-needs-major-re-thinking-of-foreign-policy-on-west-philippine-sea-disputes-maritime-law-expert