‘Concrete blocks in Panatag Shoal not threat to navigation’

MANILA, Philippines - The concrete blocks in Panatag Shoal within the country’s exclusive economic zone do not pose a threat to freedom of navigation and should not be taken as a sign that the country has lost sovereignty over the area, President Aquino said yesterday.

“They are, from our findings... very, very old concrete blocks. Some of them have barnacles attached to them. They are not a new phenomenon. So they don’t seem to give us any reason to have an increase in anxiety.”

Speaking at the annual presidential forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, Aquino said the concrete blocks would not seem to impede safe navigation.

“So they don’t present an immediate danger to any of our vessels or even those that would transit in the area around the Scarborough Shoal. The concrete blocks, I understand, they are within the shoal or the lagoon within the shoal.

“(The blocks) are in the portion that is shallow, (and) probably would not have vessels transiting them. If they do not present a danger to shipping or to any ships transiting the area, then there might not be a need to remove these concrete blocks at this time.”

Asked whether the Philippines had lost Panatag Shoal, Aquino said: “No. Because we can still go there and we do have over-flight missions and we do monitor what is happening. Some of our fisher folk are still in that area.”

Aquino said the country also went to the United Nations for arbitration, and that they had been pushing for a code of conduct in the West Philippine Sea to ensure peace and stability in the region.

 â€œThe horizon is defined as 25 miles... (not being) allowed to go to Scarborough Shoal seems to be an oxymoron,” he said.

“It is ours, and there’s no rule that says we can’t go there. Freedom of navigation basically means, guaranteed also by other various international agreements amongst them is the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), that we do have the right of transit.” 

Aquino said the country was committed to pursuing all other facets of bilateral relations with China.

 â€œIf we look at it from the economy’s point of view; if we look at it from tourism figures both ways; then, it seems to buttress the statement that the issues and the disputes should not be the sum total of our relationship,” he said.

 Aquino said trade between the two countries was increasing and both sides were “acting from” the pronouncement that “the dispute in the sea by many names should not be the “be-all and end-all of our relationship.”

 As regards the plan of a Filipino-British company to jointly explore Recto (Reed) Bank with China’s state-owned offshore oil producer for oil and gas as announced by Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla, Aquino said any deal must conform with the Philippine laws because the area was well within the country’s territory.

 He noted that London-based Forum Energy plc had said the actual details of the contracts would be between the two entities.

 â€œBut at the end of the day, it has to subscribe to our own laws... part of subscribing to the laws has to deal with the royalties,” he said.

Aquino said it was important to keep the status quo in the West Philippine Sea - meaning to refrain from occupying any of the disputed areas - as the code of conduct was being worked on.

 â€œThe bottom line is, we are undergoing arbitration, we are pursuing the second track with the COC; and at the end of the day, either or both will seek to clarify everybody’s entitlements with regards to this body of water,” he said.

 Aquino said he was bullish about the case that the Philippines filed before the UN, now being heard by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

 â€œI’m saying that there is a legally binding document and if you say that you adhere to international law then you should abide by the decision as we will abide by the decision,” he said.