Go beyond saying West Philippine Sea is ours, fishers tell Marcos

MANILA, Philippines — Advocates of demilitarization in the West Philippine Sea expressed dismay on Tuesday after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. supposedly failed to outline a clear plan to address the row over the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in his third State of the Nation Address. 

A progressive group of fisherfolk and a minority House lawmaker both urged the president to go beyond declarations of ownership of the WPS in asserting the Philippines’ sovereign and territorial rights over the resource-rich waters.

Marcos was cheered on by some 2,000 guests on Monday when he declared the West Philippine Sea as “not a figment of imagination” but “ours.” 

The president also cited two pending bills that will ensure Filipinos pass on the “intergenerational mandate” of defending the contested waters, namely the proposed Maritime Zones Act and the proposed Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act. 

For the progressive fishers’ group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA), Marcos should have discussed how to “peacefully regain” the country’s control over the resource-rich waters to allow Filipino fishers to freely go out to sea.

“Lampas na dapat tayo sa pagkumbinsi sa isa’t-isa na sa atin ang karagatang ito, wala nang pagtatalo diyan (We should be past convincing each other that this sea belongs to us; there should be no more debate about that),” the group said.

In an interview post-SONA, Rep. Arlene Brosas (Gabriela Women’s Party) said the president should explore the possible filing of “suits, charges or even complaints” to the United Nations to defend Filipino fishers driven away by Chinese vessels in the country’s own waters.

“Although pinapalakpakan sya, hinahanap natin ang certain points. Halimbawa, anong foreign policy ang kailangan mo to protect the West Philippine Sea?” Brosas said.

(Although he was applauded, we’re looking for certain points. For example, what foreign policy is needed to protect the West Philippine Sea?)

“What the Makabayan bloc wants is to demilitarize the West Philippine Sea and no foreign intervention at all,” Brosas said.

The lawmaker added that the conflict with China has been used to broker agreements with countries “military in nature… which aggravates the aggression on the WPS.”
 
Similarly, Joey Marabe, PAMALAKAYA’s provincial coordinator in Zambales, said the government has chosen to pursue military interventions instead of taking advantage of the country’s legal basis to peacefully and diplomatically assert its territorial rights over the West Philippine Sea. 

Marcos said in his third SONA that while the Philippines will not yield in asserting its rights over the West Philippine Sea, its means of doing so will be “in the same fair and pacific way that we have always done.”

“Proper diplomatic channels and mechanisms under the rules-based international order remain the only acceptable means of settling disputes,” the president said.