PH Mission to ASEAN Expounds on Relevance of UNCLOS and its Implications on the Rights and Obligations of ASEAN Member States
Top, left to right: Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Elizabeth Te of the Philippine Mission to ASEAN; Professor Jay Batongbacal of the University of the Philippines’ College of Law; and Third Secretary Noel Rodriguez (moderator) Bottom, left to right: Third Secretary Melissa Telan and Third Secretary John Paul Samonte (panelists). (Jakarta PM photo)
JAKARTA 05 October 2022 – The Permanent Mission of the Philippines to ASEAN conducted a webinar on 29 September 2022 featuring a lecture by Professor Jay Batongbacal of the University of the Philippines’ College of Law entitled “Reaffirming UNCLOS: Rights and Obligations”.
The webinar sought to reaffirm the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and its corresponding rights and obligations in the context of ASEAN.
In her opening remarks, Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Elizabeth T. Te of the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to ASEAN highlighted the importance placed by ASEAN and the Philippines on UNCLOS.
“ASEAN adopts its annual Joint Communiqué where member states reaffirm the need to pursue peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS,” she said. She further echoed Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo’s statement that as an archipelagic state, “the Philippines regards UNCLOS and the Award on the South China Sea Arbitration as our twin anchors of policy and actions on the West Philippine Sea.”
Professor Batongbacal, one of the region’s foremost maritime experts, expounded on the relevance of UNCLOS which is hailed as one of the most important global multilateral treaties in modern times, mentioning that it provides the most comprehensive set of non-compulsory and compulsory modes of settlement of international disputes.
Professor Batongbacal also highlighted the key contributions of various Southeast Asian States such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore in drafting the UNCLOS. He added that the South China Sea Arbitration award, although binding only on the Philippines and China, is an authoritative interpretation and application of UNCLOS to the South China Sea and has become the subject of diplomatic statements and positions of other ASEAN Member States such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. He concluded that the ASEAN needs UNCLOS, and UNCLOS needs ASEAN, for both to flourish and persist, and bring to reality our shared dreams of a regional international community.
The webinar’s panelists, Third Secretaries John Paul Samonte and Melissa Telan, together with the virtual participants, had the opportunity to pose their questions, requests for clarifications and comments during the open forum that followed the lecture.
The event is in line with Presidential Proclamation No. 316 (2017) declaring September as Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month (MANA Mo). The proclamation encourages all agencies and instrumentalities of the Philippines to implement programs and activities that seek to raise awareness and consciousness on maritime and archipelagic issues and concerns.
The Department of Foreign Affairs adopted the sub-theme “Philippines as an Archipelagic State: UNCLOS @ 40” in connection with the 40th Anniversary of the signing of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). END
For more information, visit http://www.jakartapm.dfa.gov.ph/ or https://www.facebook.com/PHMissionJakarta.