Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio yesterday urged Filipinos to assert the country’s sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), pointing out that the Chinese narrative on the disputed territory is “totally false.”
During the West Philippine Sea forum at the House of Representatives, Carpio said the Chinese claims stretching supposedly to more than 2,000 years ago could be easily disproven by old maps.
Carpio, who joined the Philippine legal team that secured a victory against China from a United Nations (UN)-backed arbitration tribunal in 2016, noted that China’s nine-dash-line map, encompassing an area in which it supposedly “enjoys sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the relevant waters as well as the seabed and subsoil thereof,” is a recent claim that was submitted to the UN only in May 2009.
Beijing refuses to recognise the ruling of The Hague-based tribunal, which invalidated China’s historical claims to the area.
China’s narrative means China and the Philippines share a common border that lies just 64 kilometres off the coast of Balabac Island in Palawan, the southernmost island in Palawan; 70km off of Bolinao in Pangasinan, and 44km off Y’ami Island in Batanes, he said.
The Philippine team submitted over 170 ancient maps  — the highest number of ancient maps ever submitted to an international tribunal — including Chinese maps from the Song to the Qing dynasties, Philippine and Southeast Asian maps, and European maps of Asia — to prove that China “never owned or controlled (South China Sea) at any time in its history.” “Even under China’s Maps of National Humiliation, the Spratly Islands and Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal (in the South China Sea) were not part of Chinese territory,” Carpio said.
National humiliation maps were produced for mass education in China to “mourn the loss of national territories” since the early 20th century.
China’s nine-dash-line map dating to 1947 is the first to claim the Spratlys. Scarborough Shoal appeared on the map without an exclusive name, unlike all other features drawn as part of China.
The Philippines in reality owns most of the features in the Spratlys, Carpio said. It named Scarborough Shoal “Panacot” as early as 1734, he said.
Carpio called on the public to “help the Philippines, among other claimant countries, to explain to the Chinese people that China has no historic claim to the South China Sea.”Carpio’s statements came just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit, which the Chinese leader said was meant to “deepen political mutual trust” amid “differences” that needed to be handled “properly” through consultations and dialogue.
He said the West Philippine Sea should be a “sea of friendship and co-operation” that would create a bond of friendship between China and the Philippines.
Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo and some lawmakers have called for a protest against China after a Filipino TV news crew aired a documentary showing a Chinese Coast Guard preventing it from filming and conducting an interview in the disputed area.
GMA News’ “Reporter’s Notebook” team accompanied a group of Filipino fishermen to Panatag Shoal on November 8.