Teodoro said the Philippines should be prepared to take its claim before the international community represented by international law experts, a strategy already being undertaken by the other claimant countries.

This would cost a lot of money but is the country’s best chance to buttress its claim, he said, adding, “we really have to rely on reputable international law experts” since Philippine expertise on international law is “woefully behind.”

He said: “We must stand our ground and build up ourselves in order to credibly assert our claim.”

Teodoro made the comment in response to a question on the country’s possible flashpoints with China and other Southeast Asian countries involved in the Spratlys dispute.

The tiny but strategic cluster of islands, just off the shipping lanes of the South China Sea, has been the center of a territorial dispute among no less than five Asian countries, including China and Vietnam.

He said the Philippines should base its claim on the present baselines law as enacted by Congress, showing the islands theory of being an archipelagic country.

“We have secured our baselines already before the international community. We have to use that as a starting point.”

He said the country must build the “legal infrastructure in order to prosecute these claims” before the appropriate international body.

Teodoro said the “expertise to pursue these claims is with specific people who other countries probably would hire or have already hired.”

Pending the resolution of the dispute, the Philippines has to stand by the present status quo arrangement with other claimant countries. “We have a code of conduct with the claimant countries in the South China Sea and we have to strictly follow that,” he said.

Written by Rene Acosta / Reporter   
Wednesday, 17 February 2010 20:33