House resolution backs gov't case vs China

THE House of Representatives unanimously adopted a resolution supporting the government's decision to challenge the territorial claims of China in the West Philippine Sea before the United Nations (UN) Arbitral Tribunal.

House Resolution 3004 was principally authored by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., and co-authored by Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II and Minority Leader Danilo Suarez.

The House leaders stressed that the Philippines, in the spirit of good and friendly relations with China, has exhausted almost all available tools through its three-track approach – political, diplomatic, and legal – to peacefully settle the dispute in the West Philippine Sea.

"China violates not only the rights and jurisdictions of the Philippines but also of other coastal states by claiming virtually the entire South China Sea through its nine-dash line claim. China further violates the rights and jurisdictions of the Philippines through its continuous aggressive assertion of its nine-dash line claim in the West Philippine Sea," the resolution said.

On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said the Philippine government has decided to bring China to the Arbitral Tribunal under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The House resolution likewise called on the entire nation to unite to protect the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)