Lawmakers anticipate signing of maritime zones bill amid WPS bullying

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 10, 2024): Lawmakers anticipate signing of maritime zones bill amid WPS bullying (By Zaldy De Layola)

MANILA – Enacting the Philippine Maritime Zones bill into law would strengthen the country’s stand against China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez thus issued an appeal to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Sunday to sign the law amid the heightened tension between Manila and Beijing and continued Chinese intrusion into the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.

“The measure’s enactment will boost our assertion of our maritime and sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea and our exclusive economic zone, which China frequently intrudes into,” he said in a news release. “It will reinforce the enforcement of such rights by our defense-military forces.”

In his speech at the 21st International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on May 31, the President said he is looking forward to signing the Maritime Zones law, “which will clarify the geographic extent of our maritime domain.”

“We are not only unyielding in protecting our patrimony, our rights, and our dignity as a proud and as a free country. We are also firm in our commitment to regional and global peace,” Marcos said.

Rodriguez said the passage of House Bill 7819 in May is in accordance with international laws, agreements and conventions, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the 2016 arbitral ruling invalidating Beijing’s expansive claim over the South China Sea, including WPS.

Rodriguez, one of the principal authors of the proposed Philippine Maritime Zones Act, added that UNCLOS allows states to define their maritime boundaries.

Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, bill sponsor in the Senate, previously said he had an executive session with Executive Secretary Lucas Besamin where they discussed the recently ratified maritime zones bill.

The proposed definition of the country’s maritime territory includes the Scarborough or Panatag Shoal off Zambales and Pangasinan provinces, locally known as Bajo de Masinloc, a traditional fishing ground of Filipinos.

The Chinese constantly harass Filipinos fishing around Bajo de Masinloc. They also want the Philippines to remove BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin Shoal and recently confiscated supplies meant for Filipino soldiers.

Recently, the Chinese government issued a regulation authorizing its coast guard to detain foreigners “trespassing” in the WPS.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1226547