PHILIPPINES LAWMAKER WANTS TO RENAME SOUTH CHINA SEA TO WESTERN PHILIPPINE SEA?

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - A Filipino lawmaker proposed that the Philippines use the name "Western Philippines Sea" when ferring to the expanse of water commonly referred to in navigational an international circles as the South China Sea.
Representative Welden Bello said referring to the South China Sea as the Western Philippines is not a simple matter of nomenclature, but signifies the Philippine assertion of sovereignty over the body or water closest to its territory.

• "The Philippines government must assert its authority over Philippine territories. By renaming the South China Sea to Western Philippine Sea, we are taking a proactive move that strengthens our claim to these controversial waters and the natural resources found within," said Bello, who represents the partylist group Akbayan in Congress.
• The Philippines had long referred to the South China Sea by its most well known name, but Bello said recent intrusions made by China and other countries such as Vietnam, necessitate that the country hold firm on a name change.
• Manila and Beijing had been increasingly embroiled in sea border controversies, one of the most recent of which was when a gunboat with an insignia of the Peoples Liberation Army-Navy fired warning shots at an oil exploration vessel last February 25.
• The incident at the Quirino Atoll, which is located just 120 nautical miles west of Philippines Palawan island - and well within the country's 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone under United Nations laws - had been largely dismissed by China despite a diplomatic protest filed by Manila.
• "China has been bullying its way to establish dominance over marine resources that are clearly within Philippine territory. It has been using the same tactics in pursuing its claim to the Spratlys group of islands," Bello added as he referred to a group of rocky coral outcrops and islands further west of the Philippines.
• "What can hold back the Chinese from engaging in these incursions if we allow them to call the disputed body of water as South China Sea," he said in Filipino.
• For several decades, the Chinese government has been asserting sovereignty and territorial rights over the South China Sea particularly because of its abundant marine resources and possible wealth of oil deposits.
• In 1999, China built structures in the Panganiban Reef located well-within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that international ocean law recognizes to be Philippine territory, which led to an escalation of geopolitical tensions between the Philippines and China.
• Bello explained that the misnomer "South China Sea" has given undue advantage to China and prejudices other countries claims.

Recently, the government discovered that the Chinese government deployed a China Marine Surveillance vessel and other People's Liberation Army-Navy ships at the vicinity of Iroquois Reef-Amy Douglas Bank. The Amy Douglas Bank is located southwest of Recto (Reed) Bank and east of Patag (Flat) Island and is also within the Philippines' EEZ.
"It's time we send a clear message to the Chinese government that we have had enough of their incursions. It is time we demand them to recognize and respect our authority over our own territory, and there is no better way to do that than to declare that body of water as Western Philippine Sea," Bello conluded.
On May 31, Bello filed House Resolution 1350 urging Congress to conduct an inquiry on the process of renaming the South China Sea to Western Philippine Sea or "Kanlurang Dagat ng Pilipinas."

Source: Agency