DFA urged to file resolution before UN on West Philippine Sea dispute

This frame grab from handout video footage taken and released on April 30, 2024, by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) shows the Philippine Coast Guard ship BRP Bagacay (center) being hit by water cannons from Chinese Coast Guard vessels near the Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal in disputed waters of the South China Sea. The Philippines said the China Coast Guard fired water cannons on April 30 at two of its vessels, causing damage to one of them, during a patrol near a reef off the Southeast Asian country. (Photo by Handout / Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo has called on the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to sponsor a resolution before the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that would eventually allow the international body to intervene in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) dispute.

Tulfo on Monday filed House Resolution No. 1766, which calls on the government, through the DFA, to sponsor a resolution calling on China to stop its intrusive activities in the WPS and abide by international rules, including the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) decision in 2016.

The lawmaker was referring to the PCA arbitral ruling which stated that the Philippines must have exclusive rights in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and at the same time, invalidated China’s nine-dash line claim for having no legal and historical basis.

“Despite this ruling, the People’s Republic of China has steadfastly refused to acknowledge and comply with the arbitration award, persisting in its increasingly unlawful actions in the West Philippine Sea, including the harassment of Philippine vessels and construction of artificial islands equipped with military installations, airstrips, and other strategic infrastructure within Philippine waters,” Tulfo said in the resolution.

“Be it resolved […] by the House of Representatives of the Philippines, urge the Philippine Government, through the [DFA], to sponsor a resolution before the United Nations General Assembly calling on China to stop its unlawful actions in the West Philippine Sea in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 ruling of the [PCA],” he added.

According to Tulfo, China’s actions in the WPS just in 2024 have been aggressive, with the China Coast Guard (CCG) using water cannons or colliding against Philippine vessels doing resupply missions to Ayungin Shoal, and more recently, intercepting materials intended for troops in the area.

READ: ‘Barbaric and inhumane’: China ship rams boat carrying sick PH soldier

Tulfo also took notice of the policies being promulgated by China over the WPS, where the CCG is authorized by its government to detain foreign nationals suspected of “illegal entry” into the country’s waters — which includes parts of the Philippines’ EEZ.

With China seemingly disregarding the Philippines’ diplomatic letters, Tulfo said the next step may be for the DFA to raise this at the UNGA.

“In pursuit of the stance of the President before the international community, it is thus imperative for the Philippine Government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, to assert its rights over the West Philippine Sea and intensify diplomatic efforts to obtain international support against China’s unlawful acts,” he said.

“One of the diplomatic avenues available to the Philippines is to bring the issue before the United Nations, seeking its intervention to uphold and enforce the 2016 arbitral ruling, thereby ensuring that international law prevails at all times,” he added.

This is not the first time the government has been urged to raise concerns about China’s intrusion at the UNGA level.  Last July 2023, former Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said he supports a proposal for the Philippines to elevate complaints about China’s repeated violations of the PCA ruling at the international body.

Zubiri said back then that the majority of the senators were in favor of a resolution that Senator Risa Hontiveros filed, urging the Department of Foreign Affairs to bring the Philippines’ grievances to the UN’s main policymaking body.

Last April, Pinoy Aksyon for Governance and the Environment said in a letter to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that it might serve the country well if the concerns — particularly over Ayungin Shoal, where BRP Sierra Madre was run aground — are brought to the UN.