Philippine Military amid Hostile Attempts in Spratlys

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines - The Spratlys has made a very considerable acquisition for both the Philippine and the Chinese government along with other adjacent countries that claim the same ownership to it.

BRP Raja Humabon l Image taken from newsinfo.inquirer.net

Apart from the assertions and counterclaims of the People’s Republic of China, Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and the Republic of the Philippines; one of the only things that serve as a common denominator is that the Spratlys’ locality stands almost equidistant at the South China Sea. But this has disparagingly created more confusion and disputes among Asian countries.

The island is said to occupy more or less than five square kilometers and spread over more than 400,000 to 425,000 kilometers of sea. Several accounts say that the island also contains more than a thousand of small islands, rocks, and reefs-- substantial in natural resources.

No Spratly natives can be seen around its enclosures but it is affirmed to have abundant fishing grounds and significant oil and natural gas. All these and more ratify as to why the island has spontaneously brought itself a guaranteed proximity to controversies.

Humabon Warship Deployment

The deployment of The Philippine Navy flagship BRP Humabon (PF 11) last June that prompted China to dispatch its largest maritime vessel, the Haixun-31 passing the west Philippine Sea was in my opinion an alluded threat to the country’s ability to advance in case China declares battle.

Humabon is already the country’s largest and oldest warship built during The World War II. But despite having been described as “the last World War II-era destroyer escort/frigate in active service”, most of the country’s equipment for defense already need an amount of betterment in order to cope with the increasing demand in the worldwide military service.

           
This is most probably the reason why, in respect to what the government does to improve military defense especially during these times of disputes. The Philippine Embassy shopped for more equipment in the United States under Washington’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.

The Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces on this regard were asked by Jose L. Cuisia Jr., the Philippine ambassador to the US of a wish list of military equipment that will be needed to improve the defense capability of the country.

US Military Gear

One of the newly purchased military equipment that is mostly relevant in the building controversies in the Spratlys is the Hamilton Class Cutter, which will be renamed the BRP Gregorio del Pilar. As this may relatively improve the Philippine’s naval defense; the country's aim may still not be necessarily to toss escalating tensions about the Spratly Island but to accordingly address the rough weakness of the Navy in general.

Howbeit, President Aquino still attested a firm stands to maintain the rights of the country to explore its waters despite China’s rival assertion on the Spratlys.

He said, “We will not be pushed around because we are a tiny state compared with theirs. We think we have very solid grounds to say ‘do not intrude into our territory’ and that is not a source of dispute or should not be a source of dispute”.

“We are not going to escalate the tensions there but we do have to protect our rights.” he also added.

Political Division

The South China region where the Spratly is situated is apparently the second busiest International route for business exchange. Not far from possible for it to work in benefit of China’s alleged pursuits for economic progress.

Although, it is also said that the Spratly Island has already been politically divided among countries according to its territorial adjacency:

Image taken from asitimes.blogspot.com

Brunei: Part of Brunei's Exclusive Economic Zone

Malaysia: Part of the state of Sabah

Vietnam: Part of Khánh Hòa Province

Republic of China (Taiwan): Part of Kaohsiung municipality

Philippines: Part of Palawan province

People's Republic of China: Part of Hainan province

Since the time of discovery and subjugation the Spratly Island already had overlapping claims in treaties. Examples include the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 submitting it under Spain, in which the islands were specifically excluded from Philippine territory by the 1898 Treaty of Paris.

On the other hand, according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea a Contiguous Zone, a country extends 12 nautical miles or 24 nautical miles from the territorial sea baselines limit and may enforce law on: pollution, taxation, customs, and immigration. 

There is also an Exclusive Economic Zone wherein a country extends from the edge of the territorial sea out to 200 nautical miles from the baseline. Within this area, the coastal nation has sole exploitation rights over all natural resources.

Spratly's may not be found on the Philippine Map because the islands were not in the Philippine area of responsibility. But it is on the Exclusive Economic Zone territory of the Philippines.

Having boundaries and areas of responsibility included in the issue, people now have the privilege to figure out which countries have more rights to put claims on this almost hardly surmountable challenge to the Philippine military called, Spratly Island. 

Image Credits:

newsinfo.inquirer.net
asitimes.blogspot.com

References:

Ricardo Lazo, Jr., Philippine Governance and the 1987 Constitution, 
inquirer.net
yahoo.com