Hontiveros: National WPS Victory Day should be held every July 12

Senator Risa Hontiveros has filed a resolution seeking to declare July 12 of every year as National West Philippine Sea (WPS) Day in commemoration of the country’s victory before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).

“Considering the unresolved territorial dispute between the Philippines and China, and the presence of Chinese vessels in Panatag shoal and other parts of the WPS, which continue to threaten and harass Filipino fisher-folk and prevent them from exercising their traditional fishing rights in the area, it is essential that the spirit of the country’s landmark legal victory in the Hague be kept alive in the hearts of our people through a special day of remembrance, and other related activities,” Hontiveros said in proposed Senate Resolution 674.

Hontiveros filed the resolution on the seventh anniversary of the PCA ruling that upheld the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and invalidated China’s so-called “nine-dash line.”

On July 12, 2016, the Hague-based PCA released a 501-page ruling on the lawsuit brought by the Philippines, declaring China's historical claim over nearly the entire South China Sea as illegal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which is considered the constitution of the seas.

The arbitral tribunal, however, has no enforcement power.

China has refused to recognize the ruling and continues to assert sovereignty over the WPS.

Hontiveros said in her resolution that the current Chinese government’s unilateral policy of reclaiming and constructing artificial islands, installations, and structures in the WPS were found to have caused severe, irreparable harm to the ecosystem.

She said Chinese activities in the WPS are estimated to have caused at least P33 billion of damage annually to marine ecosystems within the Philippines continental shelf and exclusive economic zone since the Philippines filed the case against China in 2013. —Hana Bordey/KBK, GMA Integrated News