Echoing the views of China on the issue, expelled congressman Kiko Barzaga revives claims that the West Philippine Sea does not exist and lacks legal basis under international law. This is not true, based on official local documents and an almost 10-year-old international ruling.
The former Cavite representative published a graphic on his official Facebook page on June 20 carrying his “statement on the Philippine Coast Guard.” It stated:
“There is no such thing as a ‘West Philippine Sea’, lahat ng ibang bansa, South China Sea ang tawag diyan… (Every other country calls it the South China Sea)
Ginawa nang target practice ng water cannon ang Philippine Coast Guard, di pa rin sila natututo! (The Philippine Coast Guard has already been repeatedly targeted by water cannons, yet they still haven’t learned their lesson!)”
On June 22, Barzaga posted other claims on his two FB pages, which have combined followers of more than three million. He alleged that “there is no legal basis for the West Philippine Sea” internationally and reiterated that the rest of the world “recognizes it as the South China Sea.” One of the posts has already been taken down as of writing.
WPS codified in official docs
The late former president Benigno Aquino III, through Administrative Order No. 29 issued in September 2012, named the maritime areas on the country’s western side — including “the Luzon Sea as well as the waters around, within and adjacent to the Kalayaan Island Group and Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal — as the WPS.
This definition was likewise adopted in Republic Act No. 12064 or the “Philippine Maritime Zones Act,” signed in November 2024.
Early this year, the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority released an updated map of the Philippines showing the WPS, noting that the country has formally used the name in government publications since 2012.
WPS anchored in 1982 UNCLOS
Contrary to Barzaga’s “no international legal basis” narrative, the WPS is grounded in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which says that coastal states, like the Philippines, are entitled to an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) spanning 200 nautical miles from their shorelines.
This international treaty was also the legal basis for the landmark ruling issued by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in July 2016, upholding the Philippines’ sovereign rights over the WPS and invalidating China’s expansive “nine-dash line” claim.
The tribunal found that “China had violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights in its [EEZ] by interfering with Philippine fishing and petroleum exploration, constructing artificial islands and failing to prevent Chinese fishermen from fishing in the zone.”
2016 ruling ‘final and binding’
Barzaga published the false claims two days after the Chinese embassy in Manila called the 2016 arbitral award “illegal, null and void.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs “categorically rejected” the embassy’s assertions, adding that the award was rendered by the PCA in accordance with Annex VII of UNCLOS, a treaty to which both the Philippines and China are signatories.
“The award is final and binding and has become an unassailable part of the corpus of international law, providing legal clarity regarding maritime rights and entitlements in the South China Sea. It is not and will never be illegal, null and void,” the DFA said.
VERA Files previously debunked a similar fraudulent claim made by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta regarding the supposed non-existence of the WPS in any maps.
The spurious graphics, including the deleted copy, were published on Barzaga’s FB page, Kiko Barzaga (created on May 6, 2019) and his personal account, Ex-Congressman Kiko Barzaga. The posts that are still accessible have collectively 6,100 reactions; 2,114 comments and 302 shares.
