Napakahalagang usapin para sa Pilipinas ang naipanalo nitong 2016 Arbitral award, kontra sa claim ng China sa South China Sea (SCS).
Katunayan, ayon kay Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr., nangangamba siya kung mananatili ba ang kasalukuyang tindig ng Pililinas sa pagsusulong ng arbitral award na ito, sa oras na matapos na ang kaniyang administrasyon, lalo’t maituturing ito na halos existential issue na para sa bansa.
“It’s a very important issue for the Philippines, if you’re asking me if I’m worried that the policy of the Philippines will change after I leave office, of course I am. Because it’s almost, not quite, but it’s almost an existential issue for us.” —Pangulong Marcos Jr.
Ito ang dahilan ayon sa Pangulo kung bakit dapat na consistent ang bansa sa paggamit o pagkilala sa arbitral award, pagdating sa mga usapin sa West Philippine Sea (WPS).
“Because maybe not existential for ordinary Filipinos, but for the state of the Philippines, the Philippine Republic. So we really have to be consistent in that… So it is a very enormous, there are no issues before any president that are greater than that. Some are equally important, but that is as important as anything else that we are having to deal with.” —Pangulong Marcos Jr.
Mahalaga aniyang magpatuloy ang kasalukuyang posisyon ng Pilipinas sa pag-protekta nito sa teritoryo ng bansa, lalo’t kinikilala ng malalaking bansa, tulad ng Canada, ang 2016 arbitral award na hawak ng Pilipinas.
“And I think the rightness in our positioning, in terms of the way we position the Philippines in our foreign policy vis-à-vis the arbitral agreement, arbitral award is validated by countries like Canada who support it and see it as simply an enforcement of international law and the defense of our territorial integrity and the exercise of our sovereign rights within our sovereign territory.” —Pangulong Marcos Jr.
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