A former rebel identified as Fredie Ligiw 30 years old, together with his father Licuben Ligiw, 68 years old and brother Eddie Ligiw, 35 years old, a stakeholder in the construction of Daycare Center in So Manapnap, Barangay Binasaran, Malibcong, all residents of So. Sucao, Brgy Dominglay, Licuan-Baay, Abra were found dead on March 8, 2014, They were reported missing for almost five (5) days with hands tied at their backs and buried when they were unearthed.
By: Jamie Sinapit, InterAksyon.com
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Army on Sunday lashed back at the Abra Human Rights Movement (AHRM) for allegedly contaminating the crime scene where a 75-year-old farmer and his two sons were summarily executed.
Captain Regie Go, civil military officer of the Army’s 41st Infantry Battalion, said “AHRM and other civilians were in a rush to unearth the suspected grave” of victims Licuben Balansi Ligiw and his sons Freddie, 24, and Eddie, 42, in a shallow grave in Sitio Sucao, Domenglay in Licuan-Baay, Abra “despite the warning of Barangay Captain Josephine Carino to wait for the arrival of Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO).”
“Upon suspicion, Carino forewarned the group to preserve the scene of the crime but instead, the (AHRM) represented by Miss Jonah Tinong insisted and had tampered the site and accordingly, they too burned the immediate vicinity of the grave site,” Go said.
The captain said that, “In the interest of investigation,” the scene of the crime “has to be preserved for the documentation of SOCO members.”
“If so, why (is it that) Miss Jonah Tinong insisted to unearth the grave almost defying the warning of Carino when they found the site? Why did some of militant members in the area ‘accidentally burned’ the immediate vicinity of a crime scene?” added Go.
[READ RELATED STORY: Cordillera rights group urges PNoy to probe Army battalion for death of Abra farmer, 2 sons]
Earlier, Tinong tagged soldiers of the 41st IB as perpetrators of the summary execution of the three men. According to Tinong, they have witnesses who saw soldiers near the grave site before the victims were declared missing.
AHRM said one of the Licuben sons was a former member of the New People’s Army and was supposed to execute a written testimony for forcing him to act as a guide for the military in the latter’s combat operations against the NPA in the province.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/82831/army-accuses-rights-group-of-tampering-site-where-abra-farmer-2-sons-killed
abrenian.com 
Reblogged this on Brittius.com.
Posted by Brittius | March 16, 2014, 3:36 pmwow! SAANAK MAMATI ITI ACUSASYON TI ARMY ITI ARHM.
kayat da lang nga ipabasol iti kalaban da ti inaramid da gapu ta saan da mabirukan ti usto nga kabusor da nga isu da ti NPA. ammo ti umili ti usto anapasamak apo, awan ti sbali nga madama ti operasyo na dita nu saan nga ti 41st.
Posted by mile | March 17, 2014, 2:34 amkunak no nagbaliw ti AFP ta adda ti kunkunada nga Oplan Bayanihan ken ibagbagada nga nagbaliw dan ken irespeto da ti human rights ngem nilalastog gayam! Idiay Malibcong idi May/june binomba da ti ili,nabutngan ti tattao,agistay dagiti ubbing, idiay Mataragan nga nagdetatsment tan ti sosoldado ket ado ti in-report ti tattao nga human rights violations da kas kadagiti panangloko ti babbai,panagtakaw ti mula kada animal ken dadduma pay, iti barbaryo,usaren da ti civilian nga agguide iti operation da, tapos itatta minasaker da dagiti aga-ama. saan gayam a pudno ti ibagbaga ti Army kenni Pres Pinoy.
Aglanglangsut da pay. Uray no si aammo da nga isuda ti nangaramid ket agitudo da pay sabali. Awanan kayo iti diyos ,uray ti diyos saan yo pulos ikabain ken ikabuteng. Saan aya nga ammo amin ti diyos ti mapaspasak? ngem siguro awan pammati ti AFP iti diyos.
Agsubli metlang dayta kadakayo..
Posted by Amber Buyagawan | March 22, 2014, 1:01 amawan ti usto nga ibagbaga iti AFPwenno ti comander da nga ni noynoy, karkariten mi nga umili iti sucao tia presidente nga mangisayangkat iti panag imbistiga iti lugar tapnu makita na ti usto nga pasamak. papanawenna ti afp ditoy nangruna dagiti 41st, saan kami nga makatrabaho iti taltalon ta agbuteng kami nga baka dakami met ti sumaruno kada ligiw! food bloked daytoy nga mapaspasamak kanya mi. sumawat kami iti tulong yo nga katribuan iti intero nga abra ta papanawen tayo dagiti afp ditoy. awan met ti relief para mkapangan kami uaray saan kami nga manpan iti taltalon mi nga isu ti paggapuan ti kanen mi!
Posted by protec | March 25, 2014, 7:25 pmJust stop any mining operation in the province immediately which might be the core of this inhuman/barbaric acts. I don’t think the godly and compassionate President would condone this in exchange of the interests of mining operators/licensees whoever perpetuated this heinous crime. Imagine three precious lives just wasted like that? Whoever you are who ordered the killing, where is your heart? Feel it if it still there? Can you still feel the pain or sufferings their loved ones might be having now? Karma law never fails: Do good things, good things happen to you, do bad things, bad things happen to you more than what you did.
Posted by abrenian OFW | March 17, 2014, 8:02 amI visited the Sucao community and the people do not lie. Its the 41st Ib who did the brutal killing of the Ligiw Family. The family have spoken too and accused the 41st of killing their father and siblings.You cannot hide the truth forever, the truth and justice will prevail. Sa ano mang paraan igagawad ng diyos ang hustisya para sa mga walang laban at walang awang minasaker.
Posted by Amber Buyagawan | March 22, 2014, 12:42 amamber bwayagawan NPA’s are communist rebel who doesn’t believe in the existence of Almighty God so it is them for sure commited the brutal killings of the ligiw family not the 41st IB busy helping the people of Licuan-Baay.
Posted by barekbek | March 27, 2014, 11:34 pmevidences point out to the 41st IB as the killers of the Ligiws. The community believed the 41st Ib who did the crime.They have evidences to prove that. Ms. o Mr Barekbek are you an army? what helping the people are you talking about? I went to Sucao myself and saw the army camped at the Brgy Captain’s house and doing nothing..Instead they are a threat to the community.
Do you mean ,God will not punish the AFP who believe in the existence of God? even if they did the crime? I doubt because the God I know knows everything, the God I know wants justice, the God I know is loving especially for the innocent and the powerless. Surely,he will punsih them. I pray that God will exact justice!
Posted by amber Buyagawan | March 29, 2014, 12:24 ambat marunong ka pa samin na taga licuan for your information 70 percent na ng mga residente ng sucao ang naniniwalang hind 41st ang gumawa ng brutal na pagkamatay ng ligiw family kase hindi naman tanga ang mga taga licuan para basta basta na lang maniwala sa propaganda ng mga NPA sa bundok at mga NPA sa patag na wala ng ibang ginawa kundi manggulo at makialam kahit di sila kailangan.
Posted by barekbek | April 1, 2014, 1:57 amkahit anong gawin niyo na bulagin ang mga taga Licuan di nila paniniwalaan ang sinasabi niyo. kayong 41st at supporters ng 41st .Katulad ng sinabi mo, hindi tanga ang mga taga Licuan Ba-ay. Manmano laeng siguro ti kas kenka a mangilako iti kailyam wenno san ka met a taga Licuan ta awan met ti ammok a Tinggian a saan mangisakit iti kailyan na wenno kabagyan na.
Surely God will help the poor and oppressed get justice.
Lahat din ng tao ay mamamatay pero kawawa ka naman dahil mamatay kang walang saysay.
Posted by amber Buyagawan | April 1, 2014, 8:19 amfeeling mo lang nakakatulong ka sa min na taga licuan-baay the truth is nakakagulo ka lang samin nilalason mo ang isipan ng mga kababayan namin dahil one sided ka. hindi ka taga rito diba? so please lang dun ka makialam sa bayan mo wag dito samin dahil wala nang taga licuan-baay na NPA ok.
Posted by barekbek | April 5, 2014, 6:22 amwatch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYNJyKA9gao father balweg was executed by the NPA because of telling the truth, the real color and motive of the NPA.i pity this man so much he’s .very inteligent. truly a tingguian pride .
Posted by barekbek | April 5, 2014, 7:08 pmkakailian buyaen yo daytoy …http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYNJyKA9gao father balweg was executed by the NPA because he tells the truth and the real color of the NPA.
Posted by barekbek | April 5, 2014, 7:11 pmmga army tuta ni takit tignan nyo isang batalyon nakadeploy sa kapitolyo headed by then a colonel dun kau sa bundok di lng si takit ang ngbabayad ng buwis bwiset
Posted by eric shawn | March 25, 2014, 8:35 amAwan met ipasuksok dagitay taga-surong kadagiti soldakes, mapan da ngarud diay bantay? Mano ngata ti bagi dagitay batalyon ni Takit iti kurakot na?
Posted by Genti | April 5, 2014, 9:09 amNo napudno ka nga agsirbi iti probinsiyam governor saan mo nga kasapulan ti sanga batallion ng bodyguard. Dagiti tattao ti mangisalakan kenka.
Posted by Tindera | March 25, 2014, 11:22 amsika regie go sungbatan man no apay nga ada army jay kapitolyo laglag everytime agikot mga boss mo de sobre sila pguwe bwiset
Posted by eric shawn | March 26, 2014, 5:41 amAdda AFP ijay Sucao.
Adda met NPA.
Haan makapatang umili against NPA ta active ti KASTAN ijay ultimo BRGY Kagawad ket myembro. Iruar daka ti rabii no agpatang ka kontra NPA.
Nalaklaka agpatang against AFP.
Therefore, AFP ti nagaramid.
Posted by NOPIPITALISTO | April 3, 2014, 3:41 amDagiti NPA iruar daka iti rabii no adda dakes nga aramidmo (dayta ti pudno), ngem ti makunak, dagitoy koma kurakot nga Ma-mayor ken pol-politiko ti iruarda nga unaen.
Posted by Genti | April 5, 2014, 9:13 am30 years ago mabalin a mapasamak dayta Genti. Ngem ita, sabalin iti nagturungan iti ideolohiya da. Ordinary bandits da laengen. Ipukkaw da dita kalsada, “Kapitalista, Ibagsak!” Ngem kitaem iti Tsina nga naggappoan iti Maoist concepts nga sursuroten da ket Kapitalista metten. Siasino met iti di maiyaw awan.
Iti datoy nga pasamak, dapat ilukat koma da Amber Buyagawan iti imbestigasyon. Ngem saan met ta no addan dagiti witnesses nga agpatang koma ket mapan met abayan dagiti kastan. Kasano garod nga siwawaya da nga makapatang? Ala man.
Posted by NOPIPITALISTO | April 5, 2014, 6:40 pmCommunism sneaks its falsehood in its very foundation when it denies God and exalts matter to its ideological core. Communism entices young intellectual/idealist when it offers communality, but the truth is, there was no equality in a communist country. They subdued loyalty and obedience in its followership by the barrel of guns and not according to their free will. Communist leaders utilizes peace advocacy to divert attention as they assaults at the back. False ideology will never prosper, the fall of worldwide communism that started in Berlin on 1989 attest to this. True to the claim of Pagayam Nupipitalismo, NPA were reduced to mere bandits. Pagayam Buyagawan do not pretend to be in the truthful side because your falsehood is as clear as the blue sky. True socialism is based on Godism, an Ideology that point to God as the origin of the universe, and humany as God’s Children inheriting the righteousness of the Father, and the abundance of its creation. Only then that we can experience the true co-prosperity, common cause and co-existence that communism offered.
Posted by naeling | April 6, 2014, 6:41 pmnaeling whats wrong with communism?
Posted by eric shawn | April 16, 2014, 8:46 amapay nopipitalisto, sika kadi metlang ni Felipe? Apay sino kadi ti adda ti bileg na nga agimbestigar iti napasamak idiay Sucao? saan kadi a ti agdama a gobyerno. Kabaelan na nga agisayangkat ti investigation anytime no kayat na ngem no madi na uray agan-ano diay tukak awan ti mapasamak nga imbestigasyon. Masapul nga independent investigation ti mapasamak saan nga ti 41st wenno opsyales ti AFP ta akusado da met garud.
apay nga kunam nga kinasaok dagiti witnesses ? kaano? sino nga witness? saan ka agar-aramid ti istoryam kabsat baka sika met ti maysa a mangbutbuteng kadagiti witnesses nga agsao .
Nag-imbestiga dagiti elders ,anya ti nirumwar iti imbestigasyon da? siguradoak nga ammum no I-licuan ka. Ngem no adda kamkampiam baka kunam manen nga da Amber gamin ket immabay da kadagiti witnesses?!
Posted by amber Buyagawan | April 24, 2014, 4:59 ammakapapaay iti rikna dagiti nga kapanunutan u. idi pinatay ti npa ni balweg, adda ti nalawag nga basol na. ammo ti buong cordilleran ti basol na, saan nga basta agpatay iti kriminal ti npa, ipamiting da pay iti buong tribu, umili ken tattao nu akseptaren da ti hustisya….. ti afp, basta ka lang matmatay….. kaasi pay ti membro ti kastan nga pang in- i-nitan u..npa are armed.. kastan ket legal organization
Posted by radius | April 9, 2014, 11:19 pmYes kastan is one of the legal fronts (NDF). Haan mi imbaga nga illegal nga organisasyon dyta. No maawatam iti concept iti CPP-NPA-NDF, haan ka siguro nagkomentar. No myembro ka ti kastan ngem di da inexplain dayta nga concepto idi nirecruit daka, asi ka pay gayyem nga radius.
Maysa pay, haan nga kriminal dagiti myembros iti Ligiw nga napatay.
Posted by NOPIPITALISTO | April 12, 2014, 6:11 amnengneng gamin dagitoy nga tribu nga pgpampamitingan da umay da ditoy zone 5 bangued ta makita ni ada mamati kadagita nga NPA
Posted by eric shawn | April 16, 2014, 7:01 amOn the current situation particularly at the Panatag Shoal or other areas deposited with rich gas and oil resources, which side now the NPA are taking, or if God forbids when there’s a war, how does the NPA apply their ideology or true love emanating from their hearts? To the people of ROChina or to their ancestors’ land?
Posted by allano | April 16, 2014, 11:04 amhinde giyera ang solution my friend di nyo alam ibig sabihin ng war
Posted by eric shawn | April 17, 2014, 9:45 amThe NPA/student activists are using partly or wholly Maoism’s ideology and if it’s true that the ROC are financing this worldwide communism, where then the NPA pour out their support “just in case” the PH Government could no longer hold their temper with the bullying tactics of the Chinese Government? This could be possible because of the mutual support agreement signed and agreed upon by and with their powerful allies.
Again, please don’t get me wrong considering the phrase “just in case” I used. Just answer my question directly instead of beating around the bush. Majority if not all of us would like to know all possibilities that may happen.
Posted by allano | April 17, 2014, 10:18 amdont rely so much of what you had read in the newspaper my friend. not all written are true especially if the columnist is protecting or promoting individual or organization. speculation is next to ignorance.
Posted by eric shawn | April 18, 2014, 8:10 amBrod or Sis Allano, it seems you are an intellectual, I challenge you to study more on politics and economics of the current civil war in the Philiipines .Pareho lang tayo na netizen and am sure you have time to browse of surf the net. there are a lot of related literature on your topic online so that you can have /will have a more balance view on matters. Here is a link I found in the net http://www.philippine revolution .net or http://www.prwc.net. Also read the previous peace agreements of the peace talks between the Government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect of Humanitarian and International Law or CARHIL (the GPH already signed) and Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms or CASER which the GPH has not yet agree.
You also read the postion of the CPP-NDFP in relation to the issue on Panatag Shoal its in that website am referring too. And their position in relation to China as an imperialist country already.
thanks and enjoy your study tour in the net my friend!
Posted by amber Buyagawan | April 24, 2014, 3:39 amLook at this my friend I copied at their website (www.prwc.net ,am pasting here for your reference.
Concerning the maritime dispute of the Philippines and China
April 23, 2014
47_jms
Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Founding Chairman
Communist Party of the Philippines
EN PDF
Philippine Sovereignty, China, Spratlys Islands
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China’s 9-dash line claim of indisputable sovereignty over 90% of the South China Sea violates the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and robs the Philippines of 80% of its Exclusive Economic Zone and 100% of its Extended Continental Shelf.
By ROSELLE VALERIO
Liberation International
1. Why do you support the Philippine reactionary state in invoking the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and pursuing an arbitration case against China before the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), particularly in the Arbitral Tribunal based in The Hague?
JMS: What I support is not so much the Philippine reactionary state as the invocation of the UNCLOS and upholding the sovereign rights of the Philippines and the Filipino people over the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as well as the extended continental shelf (ECS) in another 150 nautical miles from the outer limits of the EEZ. Thus, I have urged the Philippine government to act promptly on the matter.
It so happens that the Philippine state has the legal personality to pursue the case before the ITLOS. It is fine that it has filed a case against China under UNCLOS in January 2013 and the ITLOS has referred the case for hearing by one of its four mechanisms, the Arbitral Tribunal based in The Hague. On March 30, 2014 the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs submitted its Memorial to the Arbitral Tribunal that is hearing the case.
China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over 90 per cent of the South China under the so-called 9-dash line map in violation of the UNCLOS. It has hypocritically called for peaceful negotiations and consultations over what it asserts as non-negotiable issue and has also called for shelving disputes and going into joint development projects in the EEZ and ECS of the Philippines. For quite sometime, the consistent point of China has been to maneuver and paralyze the Philippines into a position of acquiescence to the false claim of China and prevent a legal case from being brought before the ITLOS under the UNCLOS.
If China is allowed to violate the UNCLOS and claim 90 percent of the South China Sea under the so-called 9-dash line map, the Philippines would suffer the loss of 80 per cent of its EEZ in the West Philippine Sea, including the Reed Bank and even Malampaya. It would also lose all its ECS. We have practically lost Mischief Reef and the Scarborough Shoal to what is veritably Chinese aggression.
Irrespective of the political and social character of the present government occupying the seat of the Philippines in the community of states, the Filipino people and all patriotic and progressive forces must uphold the national sovereignty and safeguard the territorial integrity of the Philippines, including sovereignty over the territorial sea and the internal waters and sovereign rights over the EEZ and ECS. These are fundamental points of principle in the Program of the People’s Democratic Revolution.
2. The arbitration case is supposed to involve a maritime dispute rather than a territorial dispute. Why a maritime dispute? What are the implications and consequences?
JMS: It is a given fact that the Philippines and China have their sovereign rights over their respective EEZs under the UNCLOS beyond their respective 12-mile territorial seas from their respective baselines. The EEZs, including the ECSs, of both countries do not overrlap and are far apart from each other by hundreds of nautical miles. And the UNCLOS has extinguished the so-called historical rights of China over the islets, reefs and shoals outside of its EEZ and ECS. Moreover, these so-called historical rights beyond Hainan island are false and baseless even in the time before the UNCLOS.
The Philippine case brought before the ITLOS involves a maritime dispute. It is not about a territorial dispute or a case of maritime delineation, which is not governed by the UNCLOS and is not within the jurisdiction of the ITLOS. What the Philippines is simply after in the legal case is a court ruling that there are no overlapping EECs and ECSs between the Philippines and China and that China has no reason whatsoever to prevent or interfere with the Philippines enjoying its sovereign exclusive rights over its own EEZ and ECS.
There is no territorial dispute whatsoever between the Philippines and China, involving issues of sovereignty or ownership over land territory, such as islands or other elevations above water at high tide. Rocks or reefs that are below water at high tide cannot be considered land that is subject to territorial dispute. They are properly subject to maritime dispute that is governed by the UNCLOS.
Under the UNCLOS, maritime disputes among the signatory states like the Philippines and China are subject to compulsory arbitration. In contrast, territorial disputes can be the subject of arbitration only with the consent of each disputant state.
According to the Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio who has done scholarly legal work on the matter, the arbitration case of the Philippines against China is solely a maritime dispute. It does not involve any territorial dispute. The Philippines asks the tribunal whether China’s 9-dash lines can negate the EEZ that is guaranteed to the Philippines under UNCLOS. The aggrieved state also asks the tribunal whether rocks above water at high tide, like Scarborough Shoal, generate a 200-nautical mile EEZ or only a 12-nautical mile territorial sea. The Philippines further asks the tribunal whether China can appropriate low-tide elevations (LTEs), like Mischief Reef and Subi Reef, within the Philippines’ EEZ.
3. The whole world knows how China arrogantly claims almost the entire South China Sea as being under its “indisputable sovereignty”, how in this regard it has expressed contempt towards any judicial process and how it has engaged in bullying and in aggressive occupation of islets and rocks within the EEZ of the Philippines. But in legal terms, how does China react to the arbitration case filed by the Philippines? And how does the Philippines answer?
JMS: China is determined to avoid participation in the proceedings of the Arbitral Tribunal. It argues that the Arbitral Tribunal has no jurisdiction over the case submitted by the Philippines, supposedly for two reasons: first, China can opt out of compulsory arbitration because the dispute involves maritime boundary delimitation arising from overlapping EEZs of the Philippines and China, requiring the consent of both to litigate; and second, China’s 9-dash line claim is a historical right that predates UNCLOS and cannot be invalidated by UNCLOS.
The answer of the Philippines is that the waters within China’s 9-dash lines do not constitute an EEZ because said lines are not drawn from baselines along the coast of China or any of its islands. China’s 9-dash lines do not comply with the UNCLOS for drawing EEZs. There is in fact no EEZ of China that overlaps with the Philippines’ EEZ. Relative to the Scarborough area, China’s baselines are either along the coast of Hainan Island, which is 580 NM from Luzon, or along the coast of mainland China, which is 485 NM miles from the Zambales coastline in Luzon facing Scarborough Shoal. Even the Chinese-held Paracels are 480 miles from Luzon.
Low-tide elevations (LTEs) in the Spratlys within the 200-nautical mile EEZ of the Philippines, like Mischief Reef and Subi Reef, are subject to the sovereign rights of the Philippines. Under the UNCLOS, only the Philippines can construct structures here. China has no right whatsoever to occupy and construct structures on any of the LTEs in the EEZ of the Philippines.
4. How does the Philippine debunk China’s invocation of historical rights to claim almost the entirety of the China Sea and even certain habitable islands (as in the Paracels) previously conceded to Vietnam at the 1951 San Francisco Peace Conference and nonhabitable islets, shoals and reefs that are within the EEZ of the Philippines and other countries?
JMS: The prevalent view, if not almost unanimous, among non-Chinese scholars on the law of the sea is that China’s “historical right” to the waters within the 9-dash lines in the South China Sea is completely without basis under international law. First of all, the UNCLOS extinguished all historical rights of other states within the EEZ of a coastal state. Thus, the term “exclusive” is used to denote the sovereign rights of a coastal state over its exclusive economic zone. Fishing rights that people from Hainan, Taiwan and Japan previously enjoyed in what would become the Philippine EEZ were automatically terminated upon the effectivity of UNCLOS. The UNCLOS does not allow any state to invoke historical rights in order to claim the EEZs or ECSs of other coastal states.
The historical records show that never did any state claim, beyond the 12-nautical mile territorial sea, that the South China Sea is its internal waters or territorial sea, until 1947 when China domestically released its 9-dash line map and 2009 when China officially notified the world of its 9-dash line claim and submitted the 9-dash line map to the United Nations Secretary General. No country other than China recognizes the validity and effectivity of China’s 9-dash line claim. China has never effectively enforced its claim between 1947 and 1994 when UNCLOS took effect, and even thereafter. Outside of the valid territorial sea of China, ships have freely crossed the South China Sea and planes have flown over it, without having to get permission from China.
The waters enclosed within China’s 9-dash lines cannot form part of China’s EEZ or ECS because they are beyond the limits of China’s EEZ and ECS as drawn from China’s baselines in accordance with UNCLOS. Such waters do not fall under any of the maritime zones – internal waters, territorial sea, EEZ and ECS – which are recognized by international law or UNCLOS. So far, China has not explained to the world what kind of maritime regime the 9-dash line waters fall under. It simply keeps on harping ad nauseam that it has “indisputable sovereignty” over such waters by “historical right.”
5. You have made fun of China’s “historical right” to having “indisputable sovereignty” over the entire South China Sea by comparing it with the irridentist ambitions of Mussolini to reclaim the territories that previously belonged to the ancient Roman empire. Don’t you think that it is useful to examine and test the factual basis of the “historical right” invoked and asserted by China in order to debunk its arrogant claim to “indisputable sovereignty” over the South China Sea.
JMS: Indeed, it is useful to examine and test the factual basis of China’s claim of sovereignty over the South China Sea as a matter of “historical right”. And in the process, you can have a few laughs. For instance, China claims that Scarborough Shoal, or Huangyan Island to the Chinese, is the Nanhai island that the 13th century Chinese astronomer-engineer-mathematician Guo Shoujing allegedly visited in 1279, upon the order of Kublai Khan, the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, to conduct a survey of the Four Seas to update the Sung Dynasty calendar system.
But in the document entitled “China’s Sovereignty Over Xisha and Zhongsa Islands Is Indisputable” dated January 30, 1980, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially declared that the Nanhai island that Guo Shoujing visited in 1279 was in Xisha or what is internationally called the Paracels, a group of islands more than 380 nautical miles from Scarborough Shoal. China has thus debunked itself and is estopped from claiming the shoal. The Chinese claim to the shoal becomes hilarious when the purported historical account depicts Guo Shoujing going ashore on the small rock and building on it a massive observatory with a height of 12.6 meters.
The Murillo map is the oldest map in the world showing Scarborough Shoal as part of the Philippine archipelago. It was first issued in 1734 during the Spanish colonial period. It is entitled Mapa de las Islas Filipinas. It was drawn up by the Spanish priest Fr. Pedro Murillo. It clearly shows Scarborough Shoal, then called Panacot, in the vicinity of Zambales. Filipino fishermen called the shoal Panacot and often went to it for fishing.
One more absurd and funny claim of China is that the southernmost territory in the South China Sea is James Shoal, 50 nautical miles from the coast of Bintulu, Sarawak, East Malaysia. This shoal is a fully submerged reef, 22 meters under water. It is entirely within Malaysia’s EEZ and is more than 950 nautical miles from China. It is obvious that Chinese leaders and cartographers claimed James Shoal as China’s southernmost territory without anyone of them seeing it. But once more the Chinese narrative goes hilarious as it speaks of Chinese going ashore to “visit” James Shoal. James Shoal is unique for being the only national border in the world that is fully under the sea and too far beyond the territorial sea of the claimant state.
Many errors crept into the map of South China Sea made by the “Inspection Committee for Land and Water Maps” created by the Republic of China in 1933. The committee merely copied the existing British maps and changed the names of the islands by either translating them or transliterating them to make them sound Chinese. For example, Antelope Reef was translated as Lingyang and Spratly Island was transliterated as Sipulateli. The Chinese map even copied 20 errors in the British map (which misrepresented non-islands as islands) which the British map makers would later correct.
All Chinese official maps during the Yuan, Ming and Ching Dynasties acknowledged Hainan island as the southernmost border of China. These Chinese dynasty maps never mentioned the Paracels, the Spratlys, Scarborough Shoal, the 9-dash lines or the U-shaped lines. The Chinese Government officially declared to the world in 1932 that the “southernmost part of Chinese territory” or border was Hainan Island. In the 1951 San Francisco Peace Conference, the Soviet Union demanded on behalf of China that the Paracels and Spratlys be turned over to China but the demand was rejected by a vote of 48 states to 3 states.
The Chinese should not mislead themselves into thinking that they own the entire South China Sea just because the European mariners and cartographers gave it such name. The Chinese do not own it as much as the Indians do not own the entire Indian Ocean. Long before the Chinese imperial admiral Zeng He undertook his famous sea voyages from 1405 to 1433 A.D., the prehistoric inhabitants of the Philippines had fished in the waters, now within the Philippine EEZ, and the Filipino traders had become masters of the South China Sea in the course of trading with China, Indochina and their brother Malays in what are now Indonesia, Kalimantan and Malaysia.
6. A Chinese professor from the University of Beijing wrote recently that China has the right to own islands, islets, reefs and shoals even within the EEZ of the Philippines, as in the case of British isles being dependencies of Britain even as they are geographically far closer to France?
JMS: Such scholars conveniently do not mention the fact that the British isles referred to have long been inhabited by the British and have been recognized as British dependencies by nearby states and to my knowledge all other countries. They might as well mention the colonial possessions of Britain in far flung areas in the history of British colonialism and imperialism. In an effort to hold on to the Malvinas or what they they call the Falklands, the British have combined the aggressive use of imperialist force and the deployment of British settlers.
7. Is it possible and mutually beneficial for the Philippines and China to engage in joint development projects within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines? What are now the obstacles? Why is it that China has manifested aggressive behavior?
JMS: It is possible and mutually beneficial if first of all both China and the Philippines simultaneously recognize their sovereign rights over their respective EEZs and ECSs and then immediately agree on joint development projects. It is preposterous if such joint development is subject to the precondition of recognizing China’s “indisputable sovereignty” under its 9-dash line claim over almost the entire South China Sea.
Surrendering to such precondition would mean the Philippines giving away and losing automatically at least 80 per cent of the EEZ and 100 per cent ECS and probably even losing the right to free and safe navigation in the South China Sea. Not one of the claimant states to the Spratlys has accepted China’s joint development offer because of the precondition of recognizing China’s imperial claims of “indisputable sovereignty” over the South China Sea.
The Philippines and the Filipino people cannot take lightly or ignore the aggressive actions already taken by China in connection with its greedy claim of owning almost the entire South China Sea. Through aggressive actions, China has grabbed the Mischief Reef in 1995 and Scarborough Shoal in 2012. Earlier it grabbed from Vietnam the Paracels in 1974 and Fiery Reef Cross in 1988. By all indications, China is poised to force out the handful of Philippine marines aboard the shipwrecked Philippine navy boat on Ayungin Reef, a low tide elevation in the EEZ of the Philippines in the Spratlys. Armed aggression violates the UN Charter.
The Filipino people should understand that China since the death of Mao has become a capitalist country. As the neoliberal partner of US imperialism, it has prominently promoted big comprador operations such as the proliferation of export-oriented sweatshops, privatization of the rural industries built under Mao and the wanton use of finance capital to generate a private construction boom and consumerism among less than 10 per cent of the population.
It converted proletarian state power into a bourgeois nationalist power and indeed developed further its industrial base, including its production of advanced weapons. Although it still has a relatively low per capita GDP, China is already a big capitalist power with the economic features of a modern imperialist power and is on the verge of a definitive kind of military aggression.
8. In legal terms, what are the prospects of the arbitration case filed by the Philippines against China? What are the prospects in political and economic terms? How do you take into account the further entrenchment of US imperialism in the Philippines and the collusion and contention between the US and China?
JMS: The Philippines has a good chance of winning the case. The approach in the case is excellent. It is a maritime dispute and not a territorial dispute. It attacks the outrageous claim of “indisputable sovereignty” over the South China Sea. To be benefited is not only the Philippines but also the other state claimants to EEZs and ECSs under the UNCLOS and all the people of the world who are interested in free and safe navigation over the South China Sea by ship and by airplane.
I estimate that the judges will make a ruling that yields the benefits that I have just mentioned and that keeps the South China Sea from becoming a hotbed of aggression based on the overreaching claims of China or the US. China insists that it can defy compulsory arbitration by arguing out of court that the case filed by the Philippines with the ITLOS is not a maritime dispute but territorial dispute or dispute over maritime delineation which are not governed by the UNCLOS and are outside the jurisdiction of the UNCLOS.
It cannot escape from compulsory arbitration because the tribunal can consider and rule on the pleading of the Philippines and weigh the arguments given by China for not participating in the process. If the ruling of the Arbitral Tribunal is not favorable to it, China will probably behave better in the face of the international community or will proceed on a path of imperialist aggression.
A decision favorable to the Philippines can be a good basis for pro-actively offering cooperation to China and for telling the US to stop pretending as the protector of the Philippines against China and to cease its unbridled plundering and further military entrenchment in the Philippines. Unlike the US, China is a country that has never carried out a full-scale aggression to conquer the Philippines. It has the capacity and probable willingness to help the Philippines achieve national industrialization through equitable and friendly economic and trade relations.
However, the Philippines and the Filipino people must be always vigilant to the relationship of collusion and contention between the US and China in a world still suffering from imperialism, neocolonialism and the revisionist betrayal of socialism and the revolutionary forces of the people are just beginning to reinvigorate themselves and resurge.
9. What ought to be the long term view of the Filipino people and the patriotic and progressive forces in upholding national sovereignty, territorial integrity and sovereign rights over the exclusive economic zone and the extended continental shelf?
JMS: The Philippines should be independent of the US, China and other capitalist powers. To have their own strength and gain the respect, solidarity and cooperation of other peoples, the Filipino people should win the new democratic revolution and proceed to the socialist revolution. They must attain national sovereignty and democracy for the toiling masses of workers and peasants, realize social justice, carry out land reform and national industrialization, promote a patriotic and progressive culture and develop cooperative relations with all countries for the sake of peace and development.
10. What would you suggest as study material for understanding the dispute of the Philippines and China in connection with the latter’s claim of indisputable sovereignty over the entire South China Sea and even the West Philippine Sea, where the Philippines has its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and extended continental shelf (ECS)?
JMS: The most studious should read and study the 4000-page memorial of the Philippines in its arbitration case against China, submitted to The Hague-based Arbitral Tribunal.
There are plenty of scholarly legal works on the issue by Filipino and foreign experts on international law and the law of the sea. But for general readers, I suggest as the most concise and yet comprehensive and profound material is the speech of Supreme Court Senior Justice Antonio Carpio, “What’s at Stake in Our Case Vs. China,” delivered before the Philippines Women’s Judges Association on March 14, 2014. ###
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Posted by amber Buyagawan | April 24, 2014, 4:41 amJMS’s position is for the PH and China to undergo joint development project within the maritime disputed area, but how could this happen if China keep insisting their 9-dash line historical rights? He says US should not intervene or display any kind of support to the PH, but, what if China will just suddenly grab the disputed areas or totally claiming/occupying the whole Nation by force if US will stop showing support? How many precious lives will be sacrificed again? And who will be benefited, China and the PH corrupt government officials, or the family of those poor soldiers who will shed their blood? There’s no guarantee, right? Why don’t just China give up their claim with the condition that they will be the one to exploit any mineral resources found therein, anyway, they could still bribe the government officials for anything they want. See, it’s much cheaper than launching a war and they don’t lose much longer time in devouring the profit from that mineral resources?
Posted by poldios-polsanto | May 14, 2014, 5:33 pmPara kenni Barekbek, malagip ko ti kunam panggep kenni Fr. Condrado Balweg. Ti ammok manipud kadagiti lumakay ken bumaket iti ili mi a Malibcong, Nakasuan ni Fr. Condrado iti peoples court gapu kadagiti basol na iti umili ,adu dagiti naisayangkat nga hearing na dayta a kaso inggana a naiyetnag ti hustisya laban kanyana. Dumamag ka bassit kadagiti mismo a maseknan ta no dakami ket nalawag no anya dagiti basol na.
saan mo usaren diay a kaso tapno i-justify wenno ipabasol iti dadduma ti panangpatay kada Fermin nga aga-ama ta adayo a banag kabsat awan ti mamati kenka a taga Abra no kasta ti aramidem.
Posted by amber Buyagawan | April 24, 2014, 3:27 amamber shut up
Posted by tito | April 29, 2014, 7:53 pmTito, why shut up?! tinATAKOT MO AKO? bakit ? totoo naman ang sinabi ko. Talagang dapat lang tumahimik ang walang tamang masabi kahit na may karapatan kang magsalita dahil sayang lang kung puro ngawa.
Posted by amber | May 7, 2014, 8:47 pmAmber dnt use a.com for ur idiology i dnt care if you are communist or socialist but i care you as abrenian who wnt change but it must start to our province.
Posted by eric shawn | May 16, 2014, 9:02 amThese endless n senseless killings only stop when elected officials refrain from abusing their power by serving their constituent not themselves. Electors must be guided n reeducated by churches and concern educated leaders on the evil of vote selling.
Posted by Ama | May 2, 2014, 4:43 pm