It’s comforting to note that our government officials have become aggressive over our sovereign rights over the South China Sea. For so long, we seemed to have kowtowed to China’s aggressive claim of owning the territory. In a statement, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin said the Philippines “will adhere without compromise to a 2016 court victory that nullified China’s claims in most of the China Sea.” “The award is non-negotiable,” Secretary Locsin said during a program commemorating the fourth anniversary of the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s decision which ruled China had no historic right to resources within the seas falling within its “nine-dash line.”

Torrevillas, D. M. (2020, July 16). South China Sea is ours. The Philippine Star, p. 5.