Marking the 10th anniversary of the landmark international court ruling on 12 July, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. urged Filipinos to view the West Philippine Sea (WPS) as a matter of na tional interest rather than partisan politics.

Teodoro said the Arbitral Award handed down by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) under the United Nations invalidated Beijing’s sweeping claims over the South China Sea “was not only an award for the Philippines, but an award for the world.”

He stressed the country’s sovereign rights and territorial integrity should never be subject to political division.

Though there may be critics dismissing the award as a mere “piece of paper,” Teodoro called on Filipinos to “unite around core principles” involving the country’s sovereignty.”

“We cannot afford consensus, but we need convergence. We need purpose against a determined adversary whose relentlessness is uncaring for its own people,” he said at the event commemorating the award.

Maritime defense foundation

China continues to undermine the historic award that invalidated its sweeping nine-dash-line claim in the South China Sea and affirmed the Philippines’ sovereign rights within its exclusive economic zone.

The case was brought before the PCA in The Hague, Netherlands, by then Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario in 2013.

Teodoro noted that this mere “piece of paper” has since become the foundation of a broader national effort to defend the country’s maritime rights and has strengthened international support for the Philippines.

“It has formed the basis of a national effort to be aware of its entitlements, to be aware of the importance of our maritime rights, not only for us but for future generations of Filipinos,” he said.

Teodoro added that the ruling had also transformed the country’s defense posture and encouraged cooperation with its allies and partners.

“It has motivated an armed force to shift from a mono-theater focus to a multi-domain, multi-theater armed force. It has been a paper of convergence of several countries that find common cause with the Philippines, from our Pacific neighbors, to the Indian Ocean, to Europe,” he said.

“As proof of the potency of this piece of paper,” he said, “this year’s Balikatan exercise was the largest in history. And we do not credit anyone, but we credit the power of the law expressed and enunciated in words,” Teodoro said.

Strongest asset

This sentiment was echoed by a thinktank which lamented that rhetoric dismissing the ruling in previous years weakened the country’s strongest legal asset.

“We must also be honest about a hard chapter in this journey,” the researcher said. “When the Philippines won in The Hague, the country did not immediately deploy the full moral, diplomatic, and strategic weight the award afforded it,” it noted.

The provincial government of Zambales celebrated the 10th anniversary of the arbitral award with a ceremony at the Masinloc Gym in the town of Masinloc on 10 July.