By Herman Tiu Laurel

 

                There is an on-going massive hyping of the so-called “sweeping victory” of the Philippines in the 2016 Arbitral Award’s 10th anniversary this 12th of July. It is to be expected. It is part of the US and its Filipino proxies’ effort to sustain the informational warfare in support of the U.S. policy of “containment of China” that was reactivated in 2011 when then U.S. president Barack Obama announced the “Pivot to Asia.”

                The exaggerated claims of a “sweeping victory” is to be expected even though after a decade of hyping that so-called victory the Philippines still has nothing to show for it, not an inch of extra territory nor control of any part of the disputed Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) or any global recognition of its mythical “West Philippine Sea” it claims to have put on the international map but totally absent from the UN or International Hydrographic Organization map.

                What the propagandists of the arbitral award yarn was to build several impressive folklores around the arbitral body that handled the Philippine case against China. The first was to create a false image of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) that handled the proceedings and project it as a court of justice of the United Nations – but nothing can be farther from the truth as the facts shall show.

                Just do a short search of the question “… is the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague a court of justice” and the AIs will answer invariably:

                “The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered at the Peace Palace, in The Hague, The Netherlands which was built to house the PCA. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides administrative support in international arbitrations involving various combinations of states, state entities, international organizations and private parties.

The cases span a wide range of legal issues involving territorial and maritime boundaries, sovereignty, human rights, international investment, and international and regional trade. The PCA is constituted through two separate multilateral conventions with a combined membership of 128 Contracting Parties. The PCA is not a United Nations agency, but has been a United Nations observer since 1993.”

The other tall tale the arbitration award celebrators hype is the so-called “UN Backed” decision sustaining the Philippine position in its case against China. Here’s one recent example of the erroneous or deliberately deceitful claim that the arbitration process and decision is “UN backed,” from Rappler:

“’The landmark ruling also declared China’s sweeping ‘nine-dash line’ claim over the South China Sea invalid, with the United Nations-backed tribunal concluding that there was ‘no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line’. Philippine Coast Guard spokes-person Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela reiterated this international law basis in February 2026, during an interview with DYSS Super Radyo Cebu.” – FACT CHECK: International law backs PH claim to the West Philippine Sea, Jun 30, 2026 4:00 PM, Rappler.com

                The truth and the fact are, which was stated by the Spokesman of the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon the, Stéphane Dujarric on July 12, 2016 at a U.N. Press Conference that, “The UN doesn’t have a position on the legal and procedural merits of the case or on the disputed claims.” That position has not changed through the past ten years and yet as recently as June 30, 2026 many news platforms still claim that the arbitration award is “UN backed”.

                There are many such deceptions the propagandists of the arbitration award “victory” dispenses and we have space just to expose one more, that the PCA rejected all claims of China to relative to its historic rights. Paragraph 272 of the arbitration decision disposes of that as it states, “… The Tribunal emphasizes that nothing in this Award should be understood to comment in any way on China’s historic claim to the islands of the South China Sea.”

                No amount of photo-op of flag waving by a hundred “bancas” posing as fishermen’s boats at sea led by the Akbayan party list NGO of anti-China and ex-US Air Force Col. Raymond Powell chum Senator Riza Hontiveros, no amount of Stratbase symposiums and press releases, will change the fact that the arbitration award has no international legal basis for enforcement nor any geopolitical reality for the Philippine to achieve any tangible gain.

                Since the meeting of Premier Deng Xiao Ping and President Corazon Aquino ins 1988 China in the words of its premier had proposed to “shelves differences and pursue joint development” in the relevant disputed areas of the South China Sea. That proposal is more urgent than ever in light of the looming economic catastrophe facing the Philippines in the years ahead. Then the Philippines can have energy independence and dispose of the vassalage to the  U.S. warmongers. ###

   

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