President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said the Philippines must remain consistent in defending its position and interests in the West Philippine Sea, warning that a future administration could weaken the country’s gains on the issue.
Marcos made the statement on Saturday, Canada time, during a media interview in Vancouver, where he was asked if he was concerned that his successor could take a different approach on the West Philippine Sea and affect efforts to enforce the 2016 Arbitral Award.
The Philippines is marking the 10th anniversary of the landmark ruling on the West Philippine Sea, also part of the South China Sea.
The President said he was concerned that future policy changes could affect the country’s position on what he described as a “very important” issue.
Marcos said the matter is an existential concern for the government, even if ordinary Filipinos may not always see it that way.
“So we really have to be consistent in that. And I think the rightness in our positioning, in terms of the way we position the Philippines in our foreign policy vis-à-vis the arbitral agreement, arbitral award, is validated by countries like Canada who support it and see it as simply an enforcement of international law and the defense of our territorial integrity and the exercise of our sovereign rights within our sovereign territory.”
“So it is very enormous; there are no issues before any president that are greater than that.
Some are equally important, but that is as important as anything else that we are having to deal with.”
During his meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Marcos thanked Canada for its continued support for a rules-based order in the South China Sea and for upholding the Arbitral Award secured by the Philippines in 2016.
The Arbitral Award, a landmark ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration under UNCLOS, was officially finalized on July 12, 2016.