First, a story of Creation.
In the beginning, there was only darkness.
God said “Let there be light.”
And He separated the light from the darkness.
God called light Day and darkness Night.
On the second day, God created the sky.
On the third day, He created the land and the waters.
On the fourth day, He created the sun and the moon.
On the fifth day, God created the animals, the birds and the fishes.
On the sixth day, God created man and woman and called on them to multiply.
On the seventh day, God rested and went to sleep.
While God was resting, the Emperor of China declared the entire South China Sea as belonging to China.
When God awoke and found out what had happened, He was very angry and rebuked the Emperor
of China.
But the Emperor merely replied: “This is none of your business.” That reminded God of an ancient Chinese proverb: “There cannot be two suns in the sky, nor two Emperors on this earth.”
End of story.
Since God declined to intervene, the Philippines, in March 2014, went to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) and submitted its case against China.
Two years and four months later on July 12, 2016, the PCA announced the tribunal’s decision. Among the key issues resolved, perhaps the most important was the ruling denying China’s claim “on historic rights and her nine-dash line; China’s claim of historic rights to resources in the waters of the South China Sea was illegal and incompatible with the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) provided by Unclos.”
Justice Antonio Carpio explained in simple terms part of the meaning of the award. “The Philippines has an EEZ of about 376,350 square kilometers in the South China Sea that is free from any Chinese claim. This maritime area is larger than the total land area of the Philippines of approximately 300,000 square kilometers. All the living and nonliving resources in this huge maritime area—fish, oil, gas, and other minerals—belong exclusively to the Philippines.”
It was a stunning victory hailed by the international community. Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called the ruling “a strong statement on what international law is.”
The first official reaction from the Philippines was made by Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. In a four-paragraph statement, he welcomed the ruling and said our experts were studying the matter. In the meantime, he called for “restraint and sobriety.” In other words, he enjoined Filipinos not to shout for joy as it might displease the neighbors. One observer thought that Yasay was delivering a eulogy.
Two years after the ruling, the secretary of National Defense of the Republic of the Philippines, Delfin Lorenzana, just like Yasay, downplayed The Hague decision as “an empty victory”—almost the same words used by China earlier. Carpio said Lorenzana’s remarks showed “a lack of understanding” of the dispute between China and the Philippines.
Days later, Lorenzana apologized for his “empty victory” remarks, but added that he apologized for “ruffling the feelings” of Justice Carpio and former foreign secretary Albert del Rosario. How about the feelings of some 80 percent of Filipinos who believe the government should do more to enforce The Hague ruling? After all, he is the defense secretary. The least he could do was to avoid giving aid and comfort to those who are claiming what the PCA said is ours.
Lorenzana spoke of the absence of an enforcement mechanism. That is true, and we may not see any solution in our lifetime. But we must provide future generations with a clear and justifiable basis for pursuing the legacy that we leave them.
Delfin Lorenzana, PMA Class 1973, is a soft-spoken, low-key individual, not given to bombastic remarks, although his “empty victory” statement comes close to one. After a stint in Washington as our defense attaché, he was offered by then Ambassador Albert del Rosario to stay on as our Veterans Affairs man in Washington.
That is what Delfin told me many lunches ago. His Washington stint made him the longest-serving Filipino military officer in the United States. It is, therefore, not surprising that he is being careful not to incur the displeasure of anyone.
Actually, Lorenzana is in a bind. He is a man torn between two lovers: One lives by the banks of the Pasig, the other, by the banks of the Potomac.
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