PHL Congress urged to push maritime research bill amid dispute with China

PHILIPPINE lawmakers should come up with a measure that will provide the legal framework for maritime research in the South China Sea to boost the country's entitlements to natural resources in contested areas amid worsening tensions with China, political analysts said.

- By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio

This would let the Philippines to explore and exploit mineral-rich waters and strengthen its claims, said Josue Raphael J. Cortez, a diplomacy lecturer at the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde.

"There is an enormous risk that we do not have specific policies yet concerning such action within the disputed waters," he said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

A top Philippine security official last week urged lawmakers to craft more laws bolstering the country's entitlements and sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea. Manila already has laws governing territorial boundaries and international transit within its waters.

The Philippines remains locked in a long-standing dispute with China over features in the sea that often leads to confrontations. A United Nations-backed tribunal in The Hague in 2016 voided China's sweeping claims for being illegal.

The tribunal ruled that China had interfered with Filipino fishermen's right to access Scarborough Shoal, a prime fishing patch that is close to major shipping lanes, and that the energy-rich Reed Bank lies within the Philippines' 200-nautical-mile EEZ.