Naming of seamarks bolsters Philippine rights
Manila alone may name the undersea features in its maritime jurisdictions. It must ask international bodies to delete the terms that China sneakily gave to five peaks in the Philippine Rise. That would bolster Manila’s legal rights and thwart future unfounded claims by resource hungry aliens.
International laws grant Manila the naming rights. Under rules of the International Hydrographic Organization and the International Oceanology Commission, states have preference to explore and identify the features in their territorial waters, exclusive economic zone, and extended continental shelf. Naturally so, for they not only have exclusive exploration and exploitation rights to such jurisdictions, but also must spend to conserve and protect the natural resources.
The Philippine government, by executive order, must identify which agency will accept applications for and approve the Filipino names. That agency should be the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority. The Namria in turn would file the approved names for international recognition, under the IHO and IOC.
In 2014 China labeled after its oceanographers and mariners five submerged peaks in the Philippine Rise, east of Luzon. It did so sneakily, after exploring the 13 million-hectare continental shelf without Manila’s permission. The Dept. of Foreign Affairs had rejected then three Chinese applications to explore the area. China could not abide by the simplest of Manila’s terms, that is, to allow Filipino scientists to accompany them.
The IHO and IOC broke their own rules – to avoid political conflict – in lending China naming rights to the Philippine jurisdiction. At that time Manila was in fact contesting before the United Nations court in The Hague China’s arbitrary claims over the entire South China Sea to Luzon’s west. The whole world knew of the raging maritime dispute. Manila should now ask the IHO and IOC to set things aright by expunging the Chinese appellations.
That step is crucial to Philippine sovereignty. China expansively has been claiming to own reefs, shoals, and rocks in the South China (West Philippine) Sea by virtue of supposedly being first to name them. China’s claim is false on two counts. First, it was not first to name the seamarks; the Malays were, as those were their trading routes in waters now bound by the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Later the British Admiralty christened the seamarks for listing in European exploration bodies. China in 1911 took a British map and gave Chinese translations, some erroneous.
Even if China was not Johnny-come-lately and indeed had named the seamarks, that still does not give them any territorial ownership over reefs, shoals, and rocks. These seamarks are even beyond China’s 200-mile EEZ.
Example is British-named Scarborough Shoal, earlier called by Filipinos Panacot and Bajo de Masinloc, now Panatag. It is 123 miles off the coast of Zambales, well within the Philippine EEZ. It is 700 miles off China’s nearest province of Hainan, well beyond its EEZ.
Mere military might cannot give China any right to the shoal. For Beijing to say otherwise is international theft. For Filipino cowards to agree with it is treason.
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Japan will confer today The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, on Dr. George S.K. Ty, chairman and founder of Metrobank. The distinction recognizes Ty’s strengthening of Philippine-Japan economic ties. Specifically he brought Japanese financial institutions, including rural banks and MSMEs, into the Philippine market. Japanese Ambassador Koji Haneda will give the award in behalf of Emperor Akihito. Japan is the Philippines’ biggest investor, trading partner, lender, and aid donor.
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