The Philippines will continue to assert the 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea that invalidated the basis of Beijing’s expansive claims in the region, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro said on Monday, July 14. (via Raymund Antonio | MB)
00:00Well, first of all, if there is a change in the policy, the architect of our foreign policy is the president.
00:07And the president has already given out his position and his mandate on this matter.
00:14And therefore, what has been started by former Secretary Enrique Manalo, I will be continuing it.
00:22Now, to react strongly to your, I mean, to react to your statement, the Philippines will always be very strong in the position, our position, on the Arbitral Award.
00:37But if you recall my statement at Strathbase, I said something that, yes, the Arbitral Award is one of the anchors, basic anchor, of our maritime policy together with UNCLOS.
00:49But, in effect, there is also the, as a result of which we are, I mentioned four, four positions there.
00:59One is despite that fact we adhere to international law, we have a strong communication lines with China and will maintain the strong communication lines.
01:10And then we will also leverage partnership with our, in multilateralism, and the fourth one, that we will continue the role of the Department of Foreign Affairs to provide, to play a role in the capacity building of our defense and security agencies.
