Further communications were made by Cloma to the Department of Foreign Affairs mentioning, among others things: a more expeditions inspecting practically all the major islands in Freedomland; b clearings on an island by settlers accompanied by planting of bananas and other Philippine crops; c setting up of a radio station; d establishment of a separate government for the Free Territory of Freedomland, democratic in character and de facto in nature; e adoption of all laws of the Republic of the Philippines; and f declaration and affirmation of its status as a 'protected state' under the Republic of the Philippines.
By , the Philippine government defined its official position for the first time with respect to the legal status in international relations of the islands embraced in Freedomland.
Garcia addressed to Tomas Cloma, expressed "willingness of the Philippine government to extend diplomatic protection to the fullest extent to Tomas Cloma" on the matter of Freedomland. Reactions in the international press were varied considering the strategic location of the islands, the opportunities for fishing operations but strangely and understandably , no one zeroed in on oil, gas and other mineral resources that could possibly be lying underneath the waters of the claimed territory.
A number of resolutions were filed, including a few which called for the inclusion of Freedomland in the Philippine territory. These are islands, islets While the ConCon committee on national territory, chaired by delegate Eduardo Quintero Leyte , was deliberating about the inclusion of the provision: "The Philippine territory comprises the Philippine archipelago Among Cloma's statements preserved in the records of the ConCon is one which reads: "The specific actions taken by the Philippine government in pursuance of its declaration of July 10, , specifically the establishment of garrisons in two of the islands of Freedomland, constituted an open and clear acceptance by the Philippine government of the protected status of the government established by Tomas Cloma and associates over Freedomland.
One columnist even went to the extent of saying that he appeared to be suffering from a "slight case of imperialism. He concluded his last presentation at the ConCon with: "We did not falter for a moment in our conviction that what we were doing is for the best interest of our Fatherland Prominent resource persons invited by the ConCon's national territory committee led by Ambassador Leon Ma.
Guerrero reminded the body about the "inherent right of sovereign states to acquire new territory through discovery, occupation, cession, succession and other ways recognized by international practice and the law of nations. On Dec. Presumably, his decision to waive his rights was "driven by difficulties and pressures, i.
Brought to reality were Cloma's words: "We have done our part and duty. The rest now lies in your hands to bring about the realization of this beautiful dream of a greater Philippines.
The author was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and a member of its committee on national territory chaired by Leyte delegate Eduardo Quintero. Business Forum. If there were any historic claims, they were, in theory, extinguished when Beijing ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in , the basis of the ruling.
Republican China declared ownership only as far as the Paracels, which Beijing now disputes with Hanoi. China became aggressive only after World War 2 with the publication in of the infamous nine-dash-line map that claimed more than 80 percent of South China Sea. At that time, most of the islands and rocks did not even have Chinese names; Beijing scrambled to transliterate, thus Lord Auckland Shoal became Ao ke lan sha, Mischief Reef became Mi-qi fu, Gaven Reef Ge wen, and so on.
That rush job was a job that mattered. Having stationed soldiers there after a secret operation in the early s, Marcos took things a step farther and created the Municipality of Kalayaan under Palawan province.
It has a complete set of local government officials, albeit with a population of only a couple hundred military personnel and dependents. There were actually two candidates for mayor in Kalayaan in the May polls; Roberto del Mundo, an independent who sought re-election, defeated Rodrigo Jaca, to Kalayaan might be a legal artifice for some, but at least they have real elections there, something that cannot be said of other towns in the Philippines.
We should also insist on Filipino names for islands grabbed from us by China — Panatag instead of Scarborough, Panganiban Reef instead of Mischief Reef, and call the body of water within our maritime boundaries West Philippine Sea instead of South China Sea — as an act of defiance. We should not apologize for using our own names, e.
We have the stronger claim so it should be the reverse: use the Filipino official names first, then reference the international names, if at all needed, parenthetically, in footnotes even. Call them by our names: Kalayaan instead of Spratlys.
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