Malacañang on Tuesday backed the order of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. banning Chinese survey ships in the country’s waters, only to withdraw his directive hours later. In a tweet, Locsin said the country cannot ban marine surveys after all, under the UN Convention for the Law of the Sea. Locsin said he had consulted a Singaporean expert from the International Institute for Strategic Studies and learned that foreign navies enjoy freedom of navigation through the country’s exclusive economic zone, and asked Filipino maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal to “double check” the finding.

Blancaflor, M. (2019, August 14). Locsin backs out of ban on survey ship. Manila Standard, pp. A1, A2.