Members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Davao City, or the city council, urge the peaceful settlement of the dispute on the West Philippine Sea on Tuesday, 23 April 2024. MindaNews photo by IAN CARL ESPINOSA
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 24 April) – “No to war.”
Members of the city council, headed by presiding officer Vice Mayor Melchor Quitain, wore shirts bearing such slogan on Tuesday to send the message to the national government “that the people of the City of Davao renounce war as an instrument of national policy,” in line with the country’s dispute with China over the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
Sangguniang Kabataan Federation President Kristine Mercado, chairperson of the Committee on Youth and Sports, authored a resolution urging national policy-makers to adhere to Article 2 Section 2 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution in dealing with the WPS issue.
Article 2 Section 2 states: “The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land and adheres to the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation, and amity with all nations.
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The resolution was approved with unanimous votes.
Mercado noted that the People’s Republic of China continues to encroach over the West Philippine Sea, including the country’s exclusive economic zone, despite the 2016 UN arbitral ruling.
“The assertion for the observance and respect of our nation’s sovereign rights need not be through armed confrontation, and should not lead to war,” Mercado said in her privilege speech Tuesday morning
In the arbitration case between the Philippines and China, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the Philippines in 2016, invalidating China’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
China rejected the arbitral ruling, and has deployed its Coast Guard and militia vessels in the West Philippine Sea as it maintains that the WPS is part of the South China Sea.
In March, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr.
challenged China to take her sovereignty claim to arbitration, instead of issuing warnings to the Philippines regarding its actions in the South China Sea.
China has been blaming the Philippines for the rising tension in the West Philippine Sea, claiming that Manila is not adhering to “understandings and agreements reached by the two sides in the past years.
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But Teodoro said China should pursue her claim before the international law.
He said China has been the one intruding into Philippine territorial waters.
“If China is not afraid to state its claims to the world, then why don’t we arbitrate under international law?” Teodoro said in a media interview. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
