Maritime institute creation is the key to solve Spratlys dispute says Angara

MANILA, July 14, 2011-Senator Edgardo J. Angara, vice chairman of the Senate committee on foreign relations said yesterday that an institute on maritime affairs that will train a pool of diplomatic, economic, maritime and legal experts on territorial disputes will provide the solution to the Spratlys dispute.

“The creation of the institute I am proposing will enable our country to have experts who can competently uphold the Philippines interests in international dialogues, including territorial disputes such as the Spratlys,” Angara said, explaining that he is now discussing with the Law Center of the  University of the Philippines of which he is a former president to iron out the details of the formation of an Institute of Maritime Affairs which will advance the country’s ocean-related interests.

“I am sure that the maritime institute will serve in beefing up the country’s capacity to protect our maritime and territorial interests like the conflict over the Spratly Islands continues to simmer,” Angara said.

He added that there is a need to have an authoritative representative in international dialogues which was made all the more urgent by the persisting tension with China.

Earlier in March, the Philippines filed a diplomatic protest after Chinese military ships bullied a Philippine seismic exploration vessel in the Recto (Reed) Bank, 80 nautical miles from Palawan and clearly within the country’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Angara said that the government rightfully protested the incursions and unwarranted harassment, adding that the renaming the West Philippine Sea is likewise a strong assertion of the country’s territorial claims. He said, however, that these disagreements cannot be allowed to escalate into a violent clash.

“The Spratlys Islands dispute involves multilateral interests and hence should be resolved multilaterally, with countries agreeing to thresh out not only political but also economic interests,” he said.

“Our country could engage stakeholders on how to jointly maximize available resources for the collective benefit, saying that there are national interests that must be pursued vigorously but there are also multilateral interests that may be sought cooperatively.

“We should strive to strike a balance between the two,” he stressed, believing that maritime institute creation could help dispute in the Spratlys issue. (Jason de Asis)