Why the West Philippine Sea Matters

By ALDWIN FAJARDO-PONDER

My support for the Philippines’ claim of sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea is not rooted in hostility toward China, nor in the easy excitement of waving a flag whenever another country tests our patience. It comes from a simpler conviction: a nation that refuses to defend what is legally and historically its own eventually teaches others that its boundaries, rights, and dignity are negotiable.

For Filipinos, the West Philippine Sea is not an abstract patch of blue discussed only by diplomats, military strategists, and television commentators. It is part of our national territory and exclusive economic zone, a source of food and livelihood for Filipino fishermen, and a reservoir of natural resources that should benefit our people.

When our fishermen are blocked, harassed, driven away, or made to feel like intruders in waters generations of Filipinos have depended upon, the injury is not merely geopolitical. It reaches the dinner table, the coastal village, and the family waiting for a boat to return.

The Philippines has not asked the world to accept its position on emotion alone. In 2016, an international arbitral tribunal ruled overwhelmingly in our favor, rejecting China’s sweeping claims under its so-called nine-dash line. China may refuse to recognize that ruling, but refusal does not erase law. A powerful nation cannot convert repetition into ownership, intimidation into consent, or artificial islands into sovereign territory simply because smaller nations lack the ships and weapons to challenge it on equal terms.

This is precisely why the issue matters beyond the Philippines. If international law protects only countries strong enough to enforce it themselves, then it is not law at all; it is merely a courtesy extended by the powerful whenever convenient. The Philippines must therefore continue pursuing every lawful avenue available: sustained diplomacy, stronger alliances, credible national defense, careful documentation of every confrontation, and unambiguous support for the fishermen and service members who face these dangers directly.

Supporting our sovereign rights does not require reckless provocation or a desire for war. In fact, defending those rights calmly, consistently, and collectively is one way to prevent conflict. Silence invites further encroachment. Confusion weakens our position. Partisan bickering tells the world that our resolve may disappear with the next administration.

I support the Philippines because this is one of those moments when national dignity must be expressed through discipline rather than noise. We can value trade, friendship, and peaceful relations with China while refusing to surrender what does not belong to China. Those positions are not contradictory. They are the posture of a mature country that knows peace is most durable when it is built on respect.

The West Philippine Sea belongs to Filipinos not because we shout the loudest, but because geography, law, history, and justice support our claim. We owe it to those fishing there today, to those who defended our nation before us, and to the generations who should never inherit a smaller Philippines simply because we were too frightened, distracted, or divided to stand our ground.

That duty is ours, and we must honor it now.