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Glenne B. Lagura

Assigned Situation/Topic:

Border Control 

Effective governments have strong borders. The national government decides which persons and goods shall enter and which shall not. Failure to control a country’s borders leavesthe wealth creating process inside the country open to any disruption from outside trends.

Cited Scenario:

Philippines’ ownership to Spratly Island 

Fact:

Spratlys Islands or Kalayaan Island Group is just within the Philippines' proximity and 200Nautical Miles Exclusive Economic Zone - under the International Laws Sea - UNCLOS. The

Philippines as the closest and archipelagic country of the Spratly island with another Five Asiancountries claim the Spratly Islands including - China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

In 1971, the Philippines officially claimed eight islands that it refers to as the Kalayaan,partly on the basis of this exploration, arguing that the islands: 1) were not part of the SpratlyIslands; and 2) had not belonged to anybody and were open to being claimed. In 1972, they weredesignated as part of Palawan Province, Kalayaan municipality. The total land area of theseislands is 790,000 sq meters.

 The Philippines control the following islands in the Spratlys:1. Kota or Loaita Island2. Lawak or Nansham Island

3. Likas or West York Island4. Panata or Lamkian Cay5. Pag-asa or Thitu Island6. Parola or North East Cay7. Patag or Flat Island8. Rizal or Commodore Reef 

Chosen Discussion:

How the country Philippines protect its intellectual property rights on the eight (8)officially claimed islands in Spratly?

Action Taken:

In various conferences of the United Nations (UN) on the law of the sea, the Philippinesproposed that an archipelagic state composed of groups of islands forming a state is a singleunit, with the islands and the waters within the baselines as internal waters.

Result:

 The Philippines got the approval in the UN Conventions on the Law of the Sea held in

 Jamaica last December 10, 1982 and qualified as archipelagic states.

Content of the outcome:

 The archipelago shall be regarded as a single unit, so that the waters around, between,and connecting the islands of the archipelago, irrespective of their breadth and dimensions, formpart of the internal waters of the state, subject to its exclusive sovereignty.

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 The archipelagic doctrine is now incorporated in Chapter IV of the said convention. Itlegalizes the unity of land, water and people into a single entity

 The Philippines bolstered the archipelagic principle in defining its territory when it includedin Article 1 of the 1987 Constitution the following:

"The national territory comprises the Philippine Archipelago, with all the islands andwaters embraced therein xxx"; and"The waters around, between and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines."

On the strength of these assertions, the Philippines Archipelago is considered as oneintegrated unit instead of being divided into more than seven thousand islands. The outermost of its archipelago are connected with straight baselines and all waters inside the baselines areconsidered as internal waters. This makes the large bodies of waters connecting the islands of the archipelago like Mindanao Sea, Sulo Sea and the Sibuyan Sea part of the Philippines as itsinternal waters, similar to the rivers and lakes found within the islands themselves.

 The archipelagic principle however is subject to the following limitations:

a) respect for the right of the ship and other states to pass through the territorial as well asarchipelagic waters;

b) respect to right of innocent passage ; andc) respect for passage through archipelagic sea lanes subject to the promulgation by local

authorities of pertinent rules and regulations.

What went well?

a. Philippines gained control of the 8 islands in Spratly which is important since the region is

supposed to contain large deposits of oil, gas, hydrocarbon and mineral resources.

b.  The islands are also strategically located in the sea lanes for commerce and transport inthe South China Sea which is very close to the Palawan Province of the Philippines with adistant less than 200 nautical miles; a bases that Philippines has a legal ground that thoseislands are part of the Philippines.

What went wrong?

a. Historically, the Philippines has no record that she was the first to discover, occupy, orconquer these islands. Thus disputes with other claimants exist as they are insisting thatthe country has no right to claim ownership of these highly disputed islands from thestandpoint of the law of discovery, law of conquest, law of treaty, or other internationallaw stipulating the modes of territorial possession, ownership, or acquisition.

b. The 200-mile exclusive economic prescribed under the Law of the Sea does notcategorically state that those islands within this marine parameters automatically belongto such country whether or not there are other sovereign countries claiming owner ship orsovereignty of these islands.

c. In early 1999, the Chinese completed the construction of three octagonal structuresperched on stilts atop the atoll on Mischief Reef which is situated within the Philippines’200-mile exclusive economic zone as defined by contemporary ocean law. The five-story,fortified, cement building alongside the three octagonal structures is permanent and isviewed by the Philippines as evidence of China’s intentions to establish military facilities inthe region. The structure could be used for communications, anti-aircraft guns, and radarsystems for monitoring aircraft and ships in the area. Further, this basing occupation of 

Mischief Reef is seen as part of China’s forward defense and offense strategy to houseequipment for guiding cruise missile systems throughout the China Sea.

d. Disputes among other 6 claimants arise.

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Claimant Features Facilities Number of   Troops

Claimed OccupiedChina all 7 helicopter pads 260Philippines 60 8 1300 m runway 595Vietnam all 27 600 m runway 600Malaysia 12 3 600 m runway 70

 Taiwan all 1 helicopter pad 112Brunei 0 0 none 0

What was done to counter emerging problems?

a. In 1995 President Fidel Ramos articulated the Philippine position regarding the Spratly’sissue. He said "I would like to clarify that the Philippines does not only claim eight islandsin the south China Sea but owns all islands and waters in the Spratly as defined in thepresidential decree issued by former President Marcos."

b. The Philippine government filed a diplomatic protest against China for the 1999 intrusiononto Mischief Reef, and has welcomed the participation of the United States and theUnited Nations in efforts to find a solution to the Spratly’s dispute.

c. In 2004 the Philippines made a foreign policy decision about the Spratly Islands. Thedecision was to create a tripartite agreement for the purpose to study the potential of oilreserves west of Palawan Island. The agreement stipulates oil companies from eachcountry will perform research to discover the oil potential in a define area in the SpratlyIsland region. The oil companies are the Philippine National Oil Company, the ChinaNational Offshore Oil Corporation, and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation. ThePhilippines initiated through the tripartite agreement is a peaceful resolution to the Spratly

Islands dispute, and bring cooperation to the South China Sea, while meeting thePhilippines own oil needs. The oil exploration area is approximately one hundred and fortythree thousand kilometers and south west of Palawan Island.1 The Tripartite agreementwas initiated by the Philippines.

d. President Benigno Aquino III and visiting Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang agreedon October 26, 2011 that adherence to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNclos)was important in the peaceful resolution of territorial issues in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). The two leaders witnessed the signing in Malacañang of thememoranda of understanding for information sharing between the two navies and for ahotline between the two coast guards.

…..

Up to now, the Philippines with 5 other claimants are fighting in their own way towin the ownership of the famous Spratly Island and talking about foreign policy inresolving the hot issue, most of the parties are agree to disagree to whatever policy maycome up. What are the pondered points of each claimant? Where or what is the best wayin order to attain the equilibrium suitable to all participating countries. What is the bestpolicy to make? Who will take the lead to create such policy?

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Conclusion:

(Excerpt from the work of Christopher C. Joyner  “The Spratly Islands Dispute in theSouth China Sea: Problems, Policies, and Prospects for Diplomatic  Accommodation”)

Conflict over the Spratly can be resolved only if policy makers have the political will andgenuine determination to do so. Most states in the region confront common problems, among

them political succession, economic development, and rising expectations from their people. Inthis regard, the Spratly’s situation should be turned into an issue of regional unity, rather thandivision, with the creation of a joint development authority for exploiting resources under theseabed. That ambition has been successfully obtained for other contentious multinationalsovereignty disputeselsewhere, and it is not beyond the realm of possibility to conceive such a management agencyevolving for the South China Sea as well. The critical challenge is for governments in the regionto make it happen.

Sources:

Websites:

http://reynaelena.com/2011/06/15/understanding-the-spratlys-issue/http://betterphils.blogspot.com/p/spratly.htmlhttp://www1.american.edu/ted/SPRATLY.htmhttp://globalnation.inquirer.net/16517/philippines-vietnam-forge-naval-agreement-on-spratlys

PDF Files:

 The Spratly Islands Dispute in the South China Sea: Problems, Policies, and Prospects forDiplomatic Accommodation by Christopher C. Joyner 

 The Philippine Claim to the Spratly Islands by Haydee B. Yorac

Article:

Border control: an effective tool to protect Intellectual Property Rights in the Philippines byBernadette Marie B. Tocjayao and Jennifer D. Fajelagutan, Makati City, Philippines

Philippines, Vietnam forge naval agreement on Spratlys by Norman Bordadora,Philippine Daily Inquirer. Dated last Thursday, October 27th, 2011

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