At 5 p.m. on July 12, The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, at 117 years old, the oldest global institution for the settlement of international disputes, gave the Philippines its biggest legal victory ever in any international arena, and China, its biggest and most humiliating setback in its campaign for international maritime and economic supremacy and unbridled territorial expansion. Not since 1521 when Filipino warrior Lapu-Lapu defeated Portuguese explorer Magellan in the now famous Battle of Mactan nearly 500 years ago, has the Philippines won so convincingly a moral and legal victory of global import. To me, there are two basic issues in the Philippines vs. China maritime case filed in January 2013. The so-called ownership by China of some 80 percent of the South China Sea by “historic title,” and the issue over seven reefs or rocks occupied by China but which rocks and reefs are claimed by the Philippines as part of its sovereign maritime resources to which it alone is entitled to exploit, by reason of its 200-nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone.

Lopez, T. (2016, July 15). High crime in the high seas. The Manila Standard, p. A11.