STATUS QUO:

1. February 2019, reports showed China deployed its maritime militia to the vicinity of Pag-
asa Island According to National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr, 113 Chinese
vessels were found swarming Pag-asa Island.
2. In April 2019, ABS-CBN News reported 4 China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels guarding the
Panatag shoal. CCG prevents them from entering the shoal’s lagoon, where there is more fish to
catch.The white ships fire water cannons at Filipino boats that attempt to enter the lagoon or else
they deploy speed boats to accost the Filipinos’ wooden bancas.
3. On August 2019, the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Command (AFP Wescom) based in
Palawan reported that a China Coast Guard ship has been lingering around Ayungin (Second
Thomas) Shoal since August 1.\
4.

AFP Wescom Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Penetrante said the Chinese white ship
just “goes around the area, stopping and going” in the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), the
Philippines’ name for the portion of the Spratlys that it claims sovereignty over.

These are just some of the alarming incursions by China, that the affirmative vehemently
disproves.

Which is why, affirmative proposes:

That the Philippine Government station naval ships in the country's seas to prevent foreign
ships from entering illegally

What does this mean?

Station not only in territorial sea, but even also near the exclusive economic zone to
protect our rights from transgressions of other states.

Again, We propose to station naval ship in territorial sea and EEZ, as they are mere
exercise of rights under UNCLOS Art. 2 & 73

Article 2, UNCLOS. Sovereignty over Territorial Sea The sovereignty of the coastal state
over its territorial sea and the airspace above it as well as the seabed under is the same as its
sovereignty over its land territory. (Article 2, LOS)

The stationing of naval ships in EEZ is justified by UNCLOS:

Article 73 Enforcement of laws and regulations of the coastal State

1. The coastal State may, in the exercise of its sovereign rights to explore, exploit,
conserve and manage the living resources in the exclusive economic zone, take such
measures, including boarding, inspection, arrest and judicial proceedings, as may
be necessary to ensure compliance with the laws and regulations adopted by it in
conformity with this Convention.
In my speech, I’m going to answer two questions.

1. Why is the proposal legitimate?

2. Why is the proposal necessary?

Why is the proposal legitimate?

1. Mere exercise of our right to secure our sovereignty – a legally

conferred right
Article 2, SECTION 3, 1987 Const. Civilian authority is, at all times, supreme over the military. The
Armed Forces of the Philippines is the protector of the people and the State. Its goal is to
secure the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of the national territory.

Article 2, SECTION 7, 1987 Const. The State shall pursue an independent foreign policy. In its relations
with other states the paramount consideration shall be national sovereignty, territorial
integrity, national interest, and the right to self-determination.

State Sovereignty – right to exercise in a definite portion of the globe the functions of a State to the
exclusion of any other State (Island of Palmas Case, PCA Ruling)

 Carl Schmitt explains the essence of sovereignty in the following terms: the
sovereign produces and guarantees the situation as a whole. It has a monopoly on
the latest decisions. Herein it lies the essence of sovereignty that must be correctly
legally defined, not as monopoly of coercion or to lead, but the monopoly to decide.
(Schmitt, 1985, p. 5 et seq.) That we may not be controlled by other states. (Self-determination)

In the aforementioned reports, there is clear violation of our sovereignty because Chinese
vessels precludes or limits the enforcing our rights over the said territory.

Although UNCLOS recognizes the right to innocent passage over our territorial sea, we
may still regulate it to unilaterally verify the character of the passage: (The passages of
China were not innocent)

Article 19(2) enumerates acts that are not considered innocent passage thus:

2. Passage of a foreign ship shall be considered to be prejudicial to the peace, good order or
security of the coastal State if in the territorial sea it engages in any of the following
activities:

(a) any threat or use of force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political
independence of the coastal State, or in any other manner in violation of the principles of
international law embodied in the Charter of the United Nations;

Swarming of Pag-asa Island (Thitu Island) – part of Kalayaan Island (Spratly Group)
the presence of 113 Chinese vessels were found swarming Pag-asa Island on July 24 was
already a clear threat to our sovereignty and to our territorial integrity. Such amount of
vessels, could possibly invoke questions on our effective control over the territory.

It must be remembered that the Philippines have territorial claims over Pag-asa Island, by
means of occupation. There is a community of Filipinos living there.

Kalayaan, officially the Municipality of Kalayaan, is a 5th class municipality in

the province of Palawan, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of
184 people.[3]
Part of the Spratly Group of Islands, situated within the South China Sea, the Kalayaan
municipality, which includes the Pagasa (Thitu) island, is 280 nautical miles north-west
of Puerto Princesa and 932 kilometres (579 mi) south-west of Metro Manila. It consist of a
single barangay located on Pag-asa Island, which also serves as the seat of the municipal
government. It is the least populated municipality in the Philippines. Kalayaan's annual
budget is 47 million pesos (about $1.1 million).[4]
Pag-asa Island has an airstrip, a 5-bed lying-in clinic, and a small elementary school. [5]
Once strictly a military installation, Pag-asa was opened to civilian settlement in 2002. [5][6]

(b) any exercise or practice with weapons of any kind;

(c) any act aimed at collecting information to the prejudice of the defense or security of the coastal State;

(d) any act of propaganda aimed at affecting the defense or security of the coastal State;

(e) the launching, landing or taking on board of any aircraft;

(f) the launching, landing or taking on board of any military device;

(g) the loading or unloading of any commodity, currency or person contrary to the customs, fiscal,
immigration or sanitary laws and regulations of the coastal State;

(h) any act of willful and serious pollution contrary to this Convention;

(i) any fishing activities;

Panatag Shoal - Scarborough Shoal is a HTE entitled to a 12 NM territorial sea only; it is a

traditional fishing ground of various fishermen from the region and China cannot prevent
Filipino fishermen from fishing.

In April 2019, ABS-CBN News reported 4 China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels guarding the shoal.

Filipino fishermen said the CCG prevents them from entering the shoal’s lagoon, where
there is more fish to catch.The white ships fire water cannons at Filipino boats that attempt to enter
the lagoon or else they deploy speed boats to accost the Filipinos’ wooden bancas.

Access to the inner lagoon is vital to Filipino fishers. Leonardo Cuaresma, chairman of the Federated
Fishermen Association of Masinloc in Zambales, told Rappler recently that their catch has declined
by as much as 80% in the years they have been barred from the lagoon.

Action Taken: The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it filed a diplomatic protest against China
not over its Coast Guard’s presence, but the mass harvesting of giant clams by Chinese trawlers.
Did not only deprive us of our traiditional fishing rights based on UNCLOS, but also
damaged its coral reef syatem
PCA Ruling: China violated its obligations under UNCLOS for having dredged and built islands on reefs
and for failing to prevent its fishermen from harvesting endangered species like sea turtles, corals and
giant clams in the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal causing “permanent and irreparable harm to the coral
reef system.”

Because Scarborough Shoal is above water at high tide, it generates an entitlement to a territorial sea, its
surrounding waters do not form part of the exclusive economic zone, and traditional fishing rights
were not extinguished by the Convention

Prevention, reduction and control of marine pollution also gives coastal states to adopt
laws and regulations over the territorial sea and EEZ

Article 211, UNCLOS. Pollution from vessels.

xxxCoastal States may, in the exercise of their sovereignty within their territorial sea,
adopt laws and regulations for the prevention, reduction and control of marine pollution
from foreign vessels, including vessels exercising the right of innocent passage. Such laws
and regulations shall, in accordance with Part II, section 3, not hamper innocent passage of foreign
vessels.

5. Coastal States, for the purpose of enforcement as provided for in section 6, may in
respect of their exclusive economic zones adopt laws and regulations for the prevention,
reduction and control of pollution from vessels conforming to and giving effect to generally
accepted international rules and standards established through the competent international organization
or general diplomatic conference.

Hence, stationing of naval ships may be considered as a mechanism to merely enforce or

secure our sovereignty, but also of regulating or preventing harm in the marine
environment. Considering the many damages in the past in the coral reefs because of
illegal passage.

(j) the carrying out of research or survey activities;

Survey vessels

In August 2019 , map images showed Chinese survey vessels operating in Philippine waters.The images
shared by US Naval War College's Ryan Martinson showed Chinese survey vessel “Dong Fang Hong 3"
operating in waters near Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, on August 7. Prior to that, map images also showed
Chinese oceanographic survey ship "Zhanjian" operating some 80 nautical miles off the east coast of the
Philippines on August 3 to at least August 6.Martinson is an assistant professor at the China Maritime
Studies Institute at the Naval War College.
Under UNCLOS, marine scientific research can only be conducted in exclusive economic
zones if permission is granted by the coastal state, in this case, the Philippines.
Actions taken: Locsin announced filing a diplomatic protest over the presence of survey ships in the
Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

(k) any act aimed at interfering with any systems of communication or any other facilities or installations
of the coastal State;

(l) any other activity not having a direct bearing on passage.

Coastal states have the unilateral right to verify the innocent character of passage, and it
may take the necessary steps to prevent passage that it determines to be not innocent.

Clearly your honors, status quo is problematic, there are recurring incursions into our
waters and in order to prevent future incursions into our territorial sea and EEZ, and the
trampling of our rights over these areas, we ought to have naval ships stationed to:

a. continuously monitor activities over the disputed areas;

b. more importantly for us to not be precluded from ascertaining our claims and
rights

If we don’t station our ships in those areas it would be too late to know of the incursion,
and damages may already have been done. So in order to prevent such damages from
happening, the presence of these naval ships is needed.

Why is the proposal necessary?

2. Not be precluded from ascertaining our claims

Kalayaan Island Group (KIG)

PCA Ruling: Ayungin Shoal (occupied by the Philippines) is an LTE within Philippine EEZ.

On August 2019, AFP Wescom Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Penetrante said
the Chinese Coast Guard white ship just “goes around the area, stopping and going” in the
Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), the Philippines’ name for the portion of the Spratlys that it
claims sovereignty over.

Ayungin Shoal is where the rusting, World War II-era Philippine Navy ship BRP Sierra Madre is
purposely aground to serve as a permanent outpost of the AFP.

Action taken: Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Tuesday, August 20, that he had yet to receive
an official report on this, and declined to comment on what action would be taken, if any.

The legal basis of the Philippine's assertion is based on the international law on acquisition of sovereignty.
Thus, the Philippine government explains that its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) claim on the waters
around Scarborough Shoal is different from the sovereignty exercised by the Philippines on the shoal
itself.

The Chinese basis for the claim is that the shoal would have been first discovered by Chinese in the 13th
century and historically used by Chinese fishermen.

Why is it important for us to station naval ships over the disputed area?

Island of Palmas Case (Netherlands v. U.S.A., 2 R.I.A.A. 829, Permanent Court of

Arbitration – Test of title in international law is “continuous and peaceful display of
territorial sovereignty”; forms of acquisition of title are:

1. occupation coupled with effective control

2. conquest (allowed before)

3. cession, and,

4. accretion;

(NOTE: In international law, title is not sufficient without the first element of display of State functions.)

To acquire title, there must be occupation coupled with effective control. If we just allow
them to roam around with the great propensity of being overthrown over such territory,
this may be seen as a diminution of control over the said territory. Hence, our territorial
claims may be questioned.

Moreover, it is important for us to have a tangible manifestation of our disapproval of their

presence, so as not to make it a developing norm in international law.

Principle of Persistent Objector – when a State continues to object to a new customary norm at the
time when it is yet in the process of formation, by such persistent objection, the norm will not be
applicable as against the State (Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries Case, ICJ 1951)

 international custom
– binding to all States

Elements:

1. General practice, characterized by uniformity and consistency

*Repetition of practice is also necessary (Judge Hudson’s statement and Tunkin)

*Universality of practice is not required (Asylum Case, ICJ 1950)

*No particular length of time is required, it is enough that it is extensive and universally
uniform (North Sea Continental Shelf Cases, ICJ 1969)

2. Opinion Juris or recognition of that practice as legally binding

o Habitual character of the acts is not enough, the States concerned must feel that they are
conforming to what amounts to a legal obligation (North Sea Continental Shelf Cases, ICJ
1969)

Overall the proposal of affirmative is a preventive measure to avoid further damage to the
environment which happened in the Panatag Shoal based on the PCA Ruling and prevent
Preclusion of our Claims over disputed islands such as the KIG.

We must not sleep on our rights. Otherwise, we might wake up, already raided and robbed
of our resources and territory.