Marcos wants to sign Maritime Zone bill amid fishing ban and new regulation of China
Amid China's imposition of a fishing ban and the announcement of a new regulation to detain foreign trespassers in the South China Sea, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that he is looking forward to signing the Philippines Maritime Zone bill.
"As President, I look forward to signing our Maritime Zones Law, which will clarify the geographic extent of our maritime domain," Marcos said in his keynote address during the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday night.
"The lines that we draw on our waters are not derived from just our imagination, but from international law. We have on our side the 1982 UNCLOS and the binding 2016 Arbitral Award, which affirm what is ours by legal right," he added.
The Maritime Zone bill is presently up for the signature of Marcos after it passed the bicameral review of the Philippine Congress last March.
Senator Francis Tolentino, chairperson of the Senate’s special panel on maritime and admiralty zones said the Maritime Zones Act aims to declare the rights and entitlements of the Philippines over its zone and fully enforce maritime laws.
It also seeks to protect the nation's marine wealth in its archipelagic waters, territorial sea, and exclusive economic zone, and reserve its use and enjoyment exclusively to Filipino citizens.
Marcos noted that the Philippines "efforts stand in stark contrast to assertive actions that aim to propagate excessive and baseless claims through force, intimidation, and deception."
"In the West Philippine Sea, we are on the frontlines of efforts to assert the integrity of the UNCLOS as a Constitution of the Oceans. We have defined our territory and maritime zones in a manner befitting a responsible and law-abiding member of the international community. We have submitted our assertions to rigorous legal scrutiny by the world’s leading jurists," he said.
He also reiterated the government's commitment to protect its sovereign rights of the country amid the harassment and intimidation by China.
"In this solid footing and through our clear moral ascendancy, we find the strength to do whatever it takes to protect our sovereign home, to the last square inch, to the last square millimeter," said Marcos.
"The life-giving waters of the West Philippine Sea flow in the blood of every Filipino. We cannot allow anyone to detach it from the totality of the maritime domain that renders our nation whole. As President, I have sworn to this solemn commitment from the very first day that I took office. I do not intend to yield. Filipinos do not yield," he added. Robina Asido/DMS
