MANILA, Philippines — Former foreign affairs secretary Albert del Rosario said yesterday the Duterte administration should request the United Nations General Assembly to pass a resolution compelling China to abide by The Hague ruling recognizing the country’s rights over the West Philippine Sea.
He also said the Duterte government should protest the many unlawful acts of aggression committed by China, including illegal island-building, degrading the marine environment, interfering with Filipino fishermen and commercial vessels within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
“Violations should be protested as these are hard-earned gains of the Filipino obtained from the outcome of the tribunal,” Del Rosario said during the Pilipinas Conference organized by Stratbase and the Albert del Rosario Institute in Makati City.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague, Netherlands invalidated Beijing’s nine-dash line claim over the whole of the South China Sea in 2016.
The government, he said, should support and promote multilateral platforms for diplomacy, like the UN.
“We need the UN so that the strong and powerful might perhaps be persuaded to find their interests together with ours,” Del Rosario said.