RECENTLY, territorial/maritime disputes between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea (SCS) have dominated international and local headlines. In lieu of the recent incident in the disputed SCS, particularly the area around Ayungin Shoal, where the Philippines had filed a diplomatic protest against China alleging that the China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel 5205 had directed 'military-grade' laser beam and illegal radio challenges against the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel, the BRP Malapascua, on Feb. 6, 2023. The PCG spokesman for the West Philippine Sea (WPS) Commodore Jay Tarriela, in an act of 'megaphone diplomacy,' said: 'China continues to ignore the Philippines' legal ownership of our EEZ over Ayungin Shoal; they continue to assert ownership of the area. Ayungin Shoal is ours.'

With all due respect to Commodore Tarriela, his latest statement is quite deceiving and misleading and does not speak of the objective reality and the facts surrounding the disputed SCS and even the status of Ayungin Shoal in relation to the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas (Unclos) and even the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).