00:00The Philippine government has further affirmed the country's rights and sovereignty over the Kalayaan Island Group in the West Philippine
00:07Sea.
00:07This following an order from President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to use local names for over a hundred of its
00:14features.
00:15Patrick De Jesus fills us in on the details.
00:19There are 131 recognized features within the Kalayaan Island Group in the West Philippine Sea,
00:26which also comprise the municipality of Kalayaan, Palawan, under Presidential Decree 1596,
00:33enacted by former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in 1978.
00:38Some of these are inhabited by Filipinos, such as Likas Island, the second largest feature occupied by the Philippines,
00:46followed by Parola Island and Lawak Island, which is also known as a bird sanctuary.
00:53The largest feature is Pag-Asa Island, which is the only one with a civilian Filipino population in the West
01:00Philippine Sea.
01:01Meanwhile, BRP Sierra Madre has been grounded in Ayungin Shoal since 1999 and serves as an outpost of the Philippine
01:10Navy.
01:11By virtue of Executive Order No. 111, signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.,
01:18the use of Philippine or local names for all features in the Kalayaan Island Group was ordered.
01:24The National Mapping and Resource Information Authority, or NAMRIA,
01:29was also tasked to produce and publish updated charts using the designated names.
01:34The Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, TESDA, and all state universities and colleges
01:41must ensure the use of NAMRIA maps, particularly in research, books, and other educational and instruction materials.
01:51Covered also under the KIG and Bering,
01:54Philippine names are some Chinese-occupied artificial islands,
01:58such as Mischief or Panganiban Reef, which lies within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone,
02:05while Subi or Samora Reef falls within the 12 nautical mile territorial sea of Pag-Asa Island.
02:12The Department of Justice also asserted that the 2016 arbitral ruling in favor of the Philippines
02:19did not weaken the country's rights over the Kalayaan Island Group.
02:23The award clarified that the Philippines has a 200 nautical mile EEC and continental shelf entitlement
02:29measured from its archipelagic baselines.
02:32The waters surrounding the high tide features of the Kalayaan Island Group
02:36are mostly the EEC waters of the Philippines.
02:40At the recently concluded two-day national symposium on the law of the sea and the West Philippine Sea,
02:46the National Security Council maintained its position based on the arbitral ruling
02:52in accordance with UNCLOS and international law.
02:56Our position in the West Philippine Sea is not disputed.
03:00It belongs to us firmly, unequivocally, and without ambiguity.
03:06We do not claim one inch more than the Convention allows.
03:10We simply insist that no one claims what is lawfully ours.
03:15The retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio also renewed his call
03:20to file another arbitration case.
03:23I call this an intergenerational struggle.
03:26So we have to file arbitral award upon arbitral award to strengthen the July 12, 2016 award.
03:33This is a long-term struggle.
03:35We never expected China to just roll over after the arbitral award.
03:40So we have to be patient here. This is a long game.
03:44Patrick De Jesus from the National TV Network for a New and Better Philippines.
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