PHILIPPINES Trends and Developments Contributed by: Valeriano Del Rosario, Maria Francesca V Bautista and Celestine Jeanne M Generillo, VeraLaw
VeraLaw 2nd Floor A&V Crystal Tower 105 Esteban Street Legaspi Village Makati City 1229 Philippines Tel: +63 2 8550 1888 Fax: +63 2 8550 2888 Email: veralaw@veralaw.com.ph Web: www.veralaw.com
Background The “Pearl of the Orient” was the historical sobriquet of the Philippines. The archipelago of over 7,600 islands resembles a string of pearls that lies off the coast of South-East Asia, stretching 1,150 miles (1,850 kilometres) from North to South. The Philippine Islands occupies a strategic position along the coast of South-East Asia. From the South China Sea (which due to political reasons is now referred to as the West Philippines Sea), there are two viable westward sea routes to the Pacific Ocean: the San Bernardino Strait in north central Philippines or the Surigao Strait in the southern Philippines. On a historical note, during one of the decisive sea battles of World War II in the Pacif - ic, one of the Japanese fleets attempted to break out to the Pacific Ocean through the Surigao Strait but was destroyed by American naval forces. The Battle of Leyte Gulf prevented the Japanese fleet’s access to the Surigao Strait, and is celebrated as one of the pivotal battles of 1944, allowing General Douglas MacArthur to fulfil his promise of “I shall return” when he departed in defeat from the Philippines in 1942. The above historical notes are important for a proper understanding of the strategic location of the Philip - pine archipelago, and the continuing tensions caused by China in the West Philippine Sea. The Republic of the Philippines is different from other littoral states. The territory of the Philippines is, in simple terms, a block of ocean, and within this block are over 7,600 islands of the Republic. The block of ocean has baselines from which the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic extends eastward. In 2016, the Republic of the Philippines won a landmark arbitration
award against China, which China refuses to recog - nise. Currently, China has occupied and militarised these islands in the Philippines’s EEZ. China has claimed most of the West Philippine Sea within what China calls the 9-dash line, and has con - tinuously harassed and threatened Philippine vessels that attempt to re-supply Philippine outposts in its EEZ. A third of world trade in 2024 transits through the West Philippine Sea (Nick Martin, “How South China Sea tensions threaten global trade”, DW, 25 Aug 2024). The threat of conflict between China and the USA in the West Philippine Sea is a trend that will continue for the foreseeable future. The northern- most island of the Republic of the Philippines, Mavu - lis, is only 88 miles from the southern tip of Taiwan, another flash point (Nick Aspinwall, “Philippines beefs up northernmost defences amid China tensions”, Al Jazeera, 7 April 2024), and was uninhabited until 2016. The defences of Mavulis are being strengthened by the Philippines, with US assistance, which China stridently opposes. The Republic of the Philippines is a treaty ally of the USA, and in 2025 the US Marine Corps brought the NMESIS system, which launches Naval Strike Missiles, to the Philippines. The system provides land-based sea denial, to the great conster - nation of China (Priam Nepomuceno, “US anti-ship missile platform still in PH”, Phil News Agency, 9 June 2025). Climate Change The Philippine archipelago lies on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. Tropical cyclones, known as typhoons in Asia, spawn in the area of the central
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