Glenne B.

Lagura

Assigned Situation/Topic:

Border Control

Effective governments have strong borders. The national government decides which persons
and goods shall enter and which shall not. Failure to control a country’s borders leaves the wealth
creating process inside the country open to any disruption from outside trends.

Cited Scenario:

Philippines’ ownership to Spratly Island

Fact:

Spratlys Islands or Kalayaan Island Group is just within the Philippines' proximity and 200
Nautical Miles Exclusive Economic Zone - under the International Laws Sea - UNCLOS. The
Philippines as the closest and archipelagic country of the Spratly island with another Five Asian
countries claim the Spratly Islands including - China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

In 1971, the Philippines officially claimed eight islands that it refers to as the Kalayaan,
partly on the basis of this exploration, arguing that the islands: 1) were not part of the Spratly
Islands; and 2) had not belonged to anybody and were open to being claimed. In 1972, they were
designated as part of Palawan Province, Kalayaan municipality. The total land area of these islands
is 790,000 sq meters.

The Philippines control the following islands in the Spratlys:

1. Kota or Loaita Island
2. Lawak or Nansham Island
3. Likas or West York Island
4. Panata or Lamkian Cay
5. Pag-asa or Thitu Island
6. Parola or North East Cay
7. Patag or Flat Island
8. Rizal or Commodore Reef

Chosen Discussion:

How the country Philippines protect its intellectual property rights on the eight (8)
officially claimed islands in Spratly?

Action Taken:

In various conferences of the United Nations (UN) on the law of the sea, the Philippines
proposed that an archipelagic state composed of groups of islands forming a state is a single unit,
with the islands and the waters within the baselines as internal waters.

Result:

The Philippines got the approval in the UN Conventions on the Law of the Sea held in
Jamaica last December 10, 1982 and qualified as archipelagic states.

Content of the outcome:

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 The archipelago shall be regarded as a single unit, so that the waters around, between, and
connecting the islands of the archipelago, irrespective of their breadth and dimensions, form part of
the internal waters of the state, subject to its exclusive sovereignty.
The archipelagic doctrine is now incorporated in Chapter IV of the said convention. It
legalizes the unity of land, water and people into a single entity
The Philippines bolstered the archipelagic principle in defining its territory when it included
in Article 1 of the 1987 Constitution the following:
"The national territory comprises the Philippine Archipelago, with all the islands and
waters embraced therein xxx"; and
"The waters around, between and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their
dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines."

On the strength of these assertions, the Philippines Archipelago is considered as one

integrated unit instead of being divided into more than seven thousand islands. The outermost of its
archipelago are connected with straight baselines and all waters inside the baselines are considered
as internal waters. This makes the large bodies of waters connecting the islands of the archipelago
like Mindanao Sea, Sulo Sea and the Sibuyan Sea part of the Philippines as its internal waters,
similar to the rivers and lakes found within the islands themselves.

The archipelagic principle however is subject to the following limitations:

a) respect for the right of the ship and other states to pass through the territorial as well as
archipelagic waters;
b) respect to right of innocent passage ; and
c) respect for passage through archipelagic sea lanes subject to the promulgation by local
authorities of pertinent rules and regulations.

What went well?

a. Philippines gained control of the 8 islands in Spratly which is important since the region is
supposed to contain large deposits of oil, gas, hydrocarbon and mineral resources.
b. The islands are also strategically located in the sea lanes for commerce and transport in the
South China Sea which is very close to the Palawan Province of the Philippines with a distant
less than 200 nautical miles; a bases that Philippines has a legal ground that those islands
are part of the Philippines.

What went wrong?

a. Historically, the Philippines has no record that she was the first to discover, occupy, or
conquer these islands. Thus disputes with other claimants exist as they are insisting that the
country has no right to claim ownership of these highly disputed islands from the standpoint
of the law of discovery, law of conquest, law of treaty, or other international law stipulating
the modes of territorial possession, ownership, or acquisition.

b. The 200-mile exclusive economic prescribed under the Law of the Sea does not categorically
state that those islands within this marine parameters automatically belong to such country
whether or not there are other sovereign countries claiming owner ship or sovereignty of
these islands.

c. In early 1999, the Chinese completed the construction of three octagonal structures perched
on stilts atop the atoll on Mischief Reef which is situated within the Philippines’ 200-mile
exclusive economic zone as defined by contemporary ocean law. The five-story, fortified,
cement building alongside the three octagonal structures is permanent and is viewed by the
Philippines as evidence of China’s intentions to establish military facilities in the region. The
structure could be used for communications, anti-aircraft guns, and radar systems for
monitoring aircraft and ships in the area. Further, this basing occupation of Mischief Reef is
seen as part of China’s forward defense and offense strategy to house equipment for guiding
cruise missile systems throughout the China Sea.

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 d. Disputes among other 6 claimants arise.

Claimant Features Facilities Number of Troops

Claimed Occupied
China all 7 helicopter pads 260
Philippines 60 8 1300 m runway 595
Vietnam all 27 600 m runway 600
Malaysia 12 3 600 m runway 70
Taiwan all 1 helicopter pad 112
Brunei 0 0 none 0

What was done to counter emerging problems?

a. In 1995 President Fidel Ramos articulated the Philippine position regarding the Spratly’s
issue. He said "I would like to clarify that the Philippines does not only claim eight islands in
the south China Sea but owns all islands and waters in the Spratly as defined in the
presidential decree issued by former President Marcos."

b. The Philippine government filed a diplomatic protest against China for the 1999 intrusion
onto Mischief Reef, and has welcomed the participation of the United States and the United
Nations in efforts to find a solution to the Spratly’s dispute.

c. In 2004 the Philippines made a foreign policy decision about the Spratly Islands. The
decision was to create a tripartite agreement for the purpose to study the potential of oil
reserves west of Palawan Island. The agreement stipulates oil companies from each country
will perform research to discover the oil potential in a define area in the Spratly Island region.
The oil companies are the Philippine National Oil Company, the China National Offshore Oil
Corporation, and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation. The Philippines initiated through
the tripartite agreement is a peaceful resolution to the Spratly Islands dispute, and bring
cooperation to the South China Sea, while meeting the Philippines own oil needs. The oil
exploration area is approximately one hundred and forty three thousand kilometers and
south west of Palawan Island.1 The Tripartite agreement was initiated by the Philippines.

d. President Benigno Aquino III and visiting Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang agreed on
October 26, 2011 that adherence to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea ( UNclos) was
important in the peaceful resolution of territorial issues in the West Philippine Sea (South
China Sea). The two leaders witnessed the signing in Malacañang of the memoranda of
understanding for information sharing between the two navies and for a hotline between the
two coast guards.

…..

Up to now, the Philippines with 5 other claimants are fighting in their own way to win
the ownership of the famous Spratly Island and talking about foreign policy in resolving the
hot issue, most of the parties are agree to disagree to whatever policy may come up. What are
the pondered points of each claimant? Where or what is the best way in order to attain the
equilibrium suitable to all participating countries. What is the best policy to make? Who will
take the lead to create such policy?

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Conclusion:

(Excerpt from the work of Christopher C. Joyner “The Spratly Islands Dispute in the
South China Sea: Problems, Policies, and Prospects for Diplomatic Accommodation”)

Conflict over the Spratly can be resolved only if policy makers have the political will and
genuine determination to do so. Most states in the region confront common problems, among them
political succession, economic development, and rising expectations from their people. In this
regard, the Spratly’s situation should be turned into an issue of regional unity, rather than division,
with the creation of a joint development authority for exploiting resources under the seabed. That
ambition has been successfully obtained for other contentious multinational sovereignty disputes
elsewhere, and it is not beyond the realm of possibility to conceive such a management agency
evolving for the South China Sea as well. The critical challenge is for governments in the region to
make it happen.

Sources:

Websites:

http://reynaelena.com/2011/06/15/understanding-the-spratlys-issue/
http://betterphils.blogspot.com/p/spratly.html
http://www1.american.edu/ted/SPRATLY.htm
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/16517/philippines-vietnam-forge-naval-agreement-on-
spratlys

PDF Files:

The Spratly Islands Dispute in the South China Sea: Problems, Policies, and Prospects for
Diplomatic Accommodation by Christopher C. Joyner

The Philippine Claim to the Spratly Islands by Haydee B. Yorac

Article:

Border control: an effective tool to protect Intellectual Property Rights in the Philippines by
Bernadette Marie B. Tocjayao and Jennifer D. Fajelagutan, Makati City, Philippines
Philippines, Vietnam forge naval agreement on Spratlys by Norman Bordadora, Philippine
Daily Inquirer. Dated last Thursday, October 27th, 2011

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