Wilton Park published its report on “Human Rights Law at Sea,” discussing the key themes of discussion, problems identified, and recommendations for possible ways forward concerning human rights protections at sea. The Wilton Park “Human Rights Law at Sea” Conference, organized in partnership with Human Rights at Sea Advisory Board member Sir Malcolm Evans KCMG, OBE, FLSW, was initiated as a…
One of the pillars of the 1995 and the amended AFP Modernization Law is force restructuring and organizational development. The original law focused on external defense given the transfer of the Internal Security Operations (ISO) from the AFP to the newly created Philippine National Police. Through Congressional Joint Resolution No. 28, the ground forces were supposed to be reorganized into…
The Ambassadors of EU member-states in the Philippines led by H.E. Ambassador Luc Véron, visited the Philippine Navy’s Naval Operating Base in Subic, and were warmly welcomed by the base commander LT COL Ferdinand Foronda. The dignitaries also received a briefing on-site. The Ambassadors reiterated the EU’s commitment to a secure, free, and open maritime supply routes in the Indo-Pacific,…
MAKATI CITY 07-December 2022 – The Philippines hosted the 12th ASEAN Maritime Forum and the 10th Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum in Manila on 06 and 07 December 2022, gathering participants from ASEAN and its partners in a two-day discussion on a wide range of maritime issues. Established in 2010, the AMF is a venue for dialogue on a wide range of maritime…
The first time I came across the term “dangerous ground” was during my sea phase training in September 1976 on board BRP Rizal, a fleet minesweeper, when the ship conducted resupply of the marines deployed in Spratlys. The nautical charts then were blueprint copies but one could not miss the words “dangerous ground” printed in the charts in bold letters….
FB GemVer, the Filipino fishing boat sunk by Chinese vessel Yuemaobinyu 42212 on 9-June-2019 near Recto Bank within the Philippine EEZ had 22 Filipino fishermen onboard. The Yuemaobinyu 42212 is a Chinese steel-hulled fishing vessel operating from Guangdong, China. It is 44 meters (144 ft) in length with a beam of 8 meters (26 ft). The FB Gem-Ver is a…
Over the past few decades many nations in Southeast Asia, including the ASEAN, have increased their defense budgets to procure and upgrade weapons systems. Some accounts indicate that the increase in the regional defense spending is two to three times the world average. Interestingly most of the weapons acquisitions are for their air and naval forces that are incredibly more…
Legal bindingness is one of the most contentious points in the consultations between ASEAN countries and China on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC). Legal bindingness will differentiate the COC from the nonbinding 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC); after all, a legally binding agreement was the original vision…
A Chinese embassy official once told a Philippine diplomat, “Why don’t you get closer to a friendly neighbour rather than a distant cousin?” Of course he was referring to the relationship between the Philippines and China vis a vis the former and the United States. On another occasion a US official, on the same topic similarly quipped, “Yes, you cannot…
Early this year on February 11, the President announced the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) in response to the suspension by the U.S. of visas of certain Philippine officials in the Department of Justice and an incumbent senator. The suspension would have taken effect 180 days later. On June 11, in a reversal of position, the government, citing…
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As an archipelagic State, the Philippines’ maritime interests go beyond the West Philippine Sea / South China Sea, although it usually gets the most public attention. While promoting and protecting the rights of the Philippines in that area, the Department of Foreign Affairs, in particular the Maritime and Ocean Affairs Office, has also been tirelessly making efforts in addressing other…
The global commons refer to the four domains where mother earth’s shared natural resources, outside of national jurisdiction, are found: maritime, air, space and cyberspace. Among these, the oldest is the maritime domain, followed by air in early 20th century with the discovery of human flight; followed by airspace with the launching of satellites into outer space in the 1950s;…
Notably preceded and followed by major military movements, I wonder what would be the impact on RP’s claim on certan islands and sea areas in the SCS. Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914), graduate of the US Naval Naval Academy, wrote of the interdependence of military might and seaborne commerce, “whoever controls the sea lanes controls the islands; who controls islands controls…
World leaders are currently updating the laws for international waters that apply to most of the world’s ocean environment. This provides a unique opportunity, marine scientists argue this week, to introduce new techniques that allow protected zones to shift as species move under climate change. In an article in the 17-January-2020 issue of Science, researchers make the case for the United…
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(A presentation made by (DENR) Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Undersecretary Analiza Rebuelta-Teh during the Roundtable Discussion on West Philippine Sea/South China Sea organized by the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations (PCFR) and Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA) held on 9-October-2019 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) CURRENT STATE OF THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCES IN…
The right of innocent passage refers to the right of foreign vessels to freely navigate in the territorial sea of another State without conducting activities that prejudice said State’s interests.1 2 It is akin to an easement or servitude whereby one has a right in relation to another’s property. Innocent passage through the territorial sea of a State over which…
Not all the maritime zones of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) are automatically ascribed to a State. The LOSC provides, among others, the different maritime zones as we know them. Among these are the Territorial Sea, Contiguous Zone, Continental Shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). It is important to note – a…
Introduction There appears to be much disagreement, if not chaos, arising from discussions on certain law of the sea concerns of the Philippines. Politics is clearly a factor here, but undeniably, there is likewise an issue concerning the appreciation of the law(s). As a sovereign state, the Philippines has a government and exercises sovereignty over its subjects and its territory….
The filing of a case against China was a historic moment in Philippine foreign relations: it was the first time that the Philippines resorted to an international judiciary to settle a political dispute.1 In retrospect, the effort was well worth it, at least from a legal standpoint. On 12-July-2016, three years since filing the case on 22-January-2013, the Philippines secured…
“Great Powers, Grand Strategies: The New Game in the South China Sea,” edited by Anders Corr (U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2018), is a good read because it puts the South China Sea conflict into a global strategic context. In so doing, it looks at the movements of China well within the EEZ of Philippine coasts, a topic dear to my heart,…
Many security challenges beset the nation as it welcomes 2018. At the domestic front, the continuing violent activities of the terrorists and other lawless armed groups in Mindanao and Sulu Sea necessitate extension of martial rule and increased deployment of security forces. Apart from armed conflict the detrimental effects of ecological imbalance brought about and expected to induce calamities and…
Introduction: State of World Fisheries. A wake-up call for the regional seas of ASEAN and the Central Indo-Pacific. Exploitation of the global marine commons has led to the depletion of most major fish stocks, and to a growing recognition of the need to take global and regional collective action to manage fisheries resources. Freedom to Fish, among the five customary…
Introduction: Archipelagic and Maritime Philippines, an ICZM case study and proposition for ASEAN Vision 2025. The ocean management concerns of the Philippines as an archipelagic State encompass its archipelagic and internal waters, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf (including a possible Extended Continental Shelf). The same situation exists for the two other archipelagic States in the Central Indo-Pacific…