President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said he is concerned that a future administration could take a different approach to the West Philippine Sea (WPS), stressing that the Philippines must remain consistent in defending its territorial rights and upholding international law.
Speaking to reporters before leaving Canada after his four-day official visit, Marcos described the WPS issue as one of the country’s most important concerns and said continuity in foreign policy is essential.
“Well, of course, it’s a very important issue for the Philippines, if you’re asking me if I’m worried that the policy of the Philippines will change after I leave office, of course, I am. Because it’s almost, not quite, but it’s almost an existential issue for us,” Marcos said.
He said the Philippines should continue to anchor its position on the 2016 arbitral ruling, which invalidated China’s sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea.
“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 [that] 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,” he said.
The 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected China’s so-called nine-dash line claim over most of the South China Sea, including areas within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea.
Marcos made the remarks as he concluded his official visit to Canada, where both countries reaffirmed support for a rules-based international order and adherence to international law.
