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A graphic circulating online claims that a majority of Filipinos “support going to war with allies to defend the [West Philippine Sea] against China,” citing an actual survey result. This is misleading.
A Facebook page posted an alleged satellite image claiming that the Chinese floating structure spotted within the disputed Bajo de Masinloc has disappeared. This is not true.
Viral posts claiming Vice President Sara Duterte threatened to throw former senator Antonio Trillanes IV into the West Philippine Sea are fabricated.
Talk is cheap. We should have learned that lesson yesterday. Our verbosity alone will not drive China’s ships away from our exclusive economic zone. Words must be backed up by a coherent strategy and determined responses that imposes costs on them. Recovering control of our waters, after it was given up by the Duterte administration before, will require a long, arduous and incremental campaign, one island at a time, one feature at a time, one mission at a time.
For the Philippines, the task is not simply to remember the Award. It is to operationalise it through law, practice, diplomacy, and sustained presence. The real anniversary question is not whether Manila won in 2016, but whether it can convert that victory into enduring maritime resilience, regional leadership, and legal resistance in the face of power.That is the unfinished work of the Award.
For fishermen in Zambales, the Philippines’ legal victory at the Arbitral Tribunal has not translated into greater access. “The 2016 ruling may have mattered at the top level, but we don’t feel it when we’re out at sea,” said Leonardo Cuaresma, who’s been fishing at Bajo de Masinloc for almost five decades and president of the New Masinloc Fishermen Association.
The National Maritime Council bears particular responsibility...A multi-agency approach is necessary, but convergence without leadership is fragmentation. Public messaging by maritime and security agencies must reinforce a coherent diplomatic line, not generate parallel narratives that complicate it.
When Chinese vessels continue to challenge Philippine maritime rights, block resupply missions, and assert claims rejected by international law, easing entry requirements risks being read not as confidence but concession.
Mel Velarde’s claim on the role of the 1734 Murillo Velarde map in affirming the Philippines' sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea needs context.
In his past three State of the Nation Addresses, Marcos has consistently vowed to stand firm on his administration’s independent foreign policy and defense of the country's sovereign rights in the WPS while maintaining good relations with other countries.
