Philippines: Protecting sea resources 'key to peace' amid South China Sea tensions

MANILA, Philippines — Southeast Asia must build stronger maritime governance based on science and international law to protect both regional peace and the millions of people who depend on its seas for survival, the Philippines' top diplomat said. 

Amid rising tensions in fiercely contested waters, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said maritime issues now extend beyond traditional security concerns to include ocean resource management, marine environmental protection, and the welfare of coastal communities.

"An area of critical importance is the governance of the global commons, the spaces we co-inhabit, in particular our maritime commons – for ours is a maritime region," Manalo said in his keynote address at a forum on Thursday, January 9 in Singapore. 

The Philippines' top diplomat described the region's waterways as lifelines that connect nations and sustain millions of coastal communities. "Getting governance right in the maritime commons, and applying the best of science, international law and norms to manage them, are key to maintaining peace in the region," Manalo told an audience of policymakers, diplomats, and academics.

The Philippines' top diplomat highlighted how Manila has expanded its maritime initiatives in recent years, pursuing joint patrols with Indonesia and Malaysia in the Celebes Sea and cooperative activities with the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada, France, India and New Zealand in waters the Philippines has sovereignty over. 

Despite escalating tensions between China and other co-claimants states in the South China Sea, Manalo pressed upon the need for Southeast Asian nations to "push the frontiers for possible maritime cooperation."

Manalo outlined a range of activities that spans from improving regional awareness of maritime activities to protecting ocean resources. He emphasized that the United Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) should guide all these cooperative efforts, from ensuring freedom of navigation to managing fisheries and natural resource extraction. 

The Philippines recently took steps to bolster its maritime governance framework with the passage of the Philippine Maritime Zones Act in November, which