Ibanag Language and Culture

Photo by IHFI. Gabi na Ibanag in Tugeugarao City

By Chester B Cabalza

Blogger's Notes:
Commentary of an Academic (Copyright @ 2013 by Chester B Cabalza. All Rights Reserved).

I am a native speaker of Ibanag! I am fluent and proficient of my first language!

The Ibanag (also known as Ybanag or Ibanak) language is the lingua franca of Cagayan Valley. It is spoken from Pamplona to Gattaran up to Tuguegarao city in Cagayan. In the province of Isabela, it is widely spoken in Cabagan, Tumauini city, Ilagan, Gamu, Echague and Santiago city.

It is believed that the Ibanagic language has had to splitter into Itawes, Gaddang, Yogad, and Iraya languages. According to noted Ibanag and Atenean scholar Vicente Valdapeñas Jr, in his book on Ateneo de Tuguegarao, he originally cited the chronicles of Dominican friar Pedro V. Salgado, writing that the Spaniards crossed to their minds that having a common language would help the conquistadores in their governance. So, they adopted and enforced the use of Ibanag as the official language for the rest of the Cagayan Valley (2008:18).

Since it was officially used as the lingua franca in Cagayan Valley, it became the language for trade in the area. As a dominant language, published Christiana Doctrina written in Ibanag was also disseminated across the region during the Spanish period. 

As to the stature of the Ibanags, documents provide that they belong to the lowland Christian groups according to the Ethnological Survey of the Philippines Office and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) during the American period, and in today’s National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP).   

Online facts about the Ibanag recount that the Ibanags originated in the region around the mouth of the mighty Cagayan River and gradually dispersed southward within the last 200 years influencing some other languages in the region.

According to anthropologist Michael Tan, in his column dated February 28, 2012 that based from Ethnologue, a database of languages throughout the world, there are 500,000 speakers of Ibanag. It is not a small number although the figure dates back to 1990. However, there might be a decreased number of Ibanag speakers now.

The Ibanag language is distinct in that it features phonemes and double consonants which are not present in many other languages in the country.

In the speech delivered by Vice President Jejomar Binay in May 2012 during the launching of the Ibanag Heritage Foundation Incorporated (IHFI), sitting as the founding Chairman and being a proud Ibanag himself, he affectionately said that, the Ibanag language is using all the complete letters in the adopted Roman alphabets in Filipino since Ibanag words have embedded y / f / v / z / j / in its phonemes. VP Binay has Ibanag roots and speaks the language fluently. His mother, the late Lourdes Gatan Cabauatan, was a native of Cabagan in Isabela.

Mother-Tongue-Based Multi-Lingual Education

The Department of Education (DepEd) used 12 major languages when it introduced the Mother-Tongue-Based Multi-Lingual Education (MTB-MLE) program last school year. Tagalog, Kapampangan, Pangasinense, Iloko, Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray, Tausug, Maguindanaoan, Maranao and Chabacano were the first batch.  

The seven new mother tongues included in the program are Ibanag, Ivatan, Sambal, Akianon and Kinaray-a, Yakan, and Surigaonon. These Philippine languages are currently used or will be used as a medium of instruction from Kindergarten to Grade 3.

Since Ibanag language has now been successfully included in the second batch of the vernacular languages to be used in public schools under the K to 12 reform program of the DepEd, it is expected that Ibanag native speakers will increase in the future.

This is after VP Binay wrote Education secretary Bro Armin Luistro in March 2012 and recommended the inclusion of Ibanag in the MTB-MLE program. Thus, he marked in his recent speech on May 31, 2013 during the second Gabi na Ibanag gathering held at Tuguegarao city, which was delivered by his articulate emissary that, “the official inclusion of Ibanag in the MTB-MLE program of DepEd is a major milestone in our efforts to preserve the Ibanag language and culture by increasing the number of native speakers. It also serves as a springboard of the government’s advocacy to empower every Filipino youth with quality education, including those who belong to indigenous groups.”

I remember last February 9, 2012 when a new set of Board of Trustees of the IHFI, including myself was convened, and being the Chair of Research of the said foundation, we did a cultural heritage workshop in the National Defense College of the Philippines to identify valuable projects and activities related to the preservation and promotion of the Ibanag language and culture. Evidently, proposal to revive the Ibanag language has topped all our insights during series of brainstorming and workshop sessions.

Starting July to September 2012, officers of IHFI spearheaded by Commodore Artemio Arugay and Ms Milaflor Gonzalez, through the guidance of Chairman Binay, has solicited help from the expertise of DepEd senior officials in Region 2, Ibanag orthographers, and grade school teachers in Cagayan and Isabela. 

VP Binay has expressed optimism that an official Ibanag Orthography will soon be approved as stakeholders from Cagayan and Isabela met in Tuguegarao City last summer to validate the draft orthography produced in an earlier workshop held last July.

To fully appreciate the efforts of all the stakeholders in this great project, Chairman Binay wrote in his May 2013 speech that, “we are grateful for the DepEd’s approval of the official orthography of the Ibanag language. The orthography is a result of a painstaking study done by our research team that began last year. The Ibanag orthography would also not have been possible without the support of our partners: the Region 02 offices of DepEd represented by Asst. Regional Director Corazon Barrientos, Department of Tourism headed by Regional Director Bless Diwa, and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources led by Regional Director Dr. Jovita Ayson; Schools Divisions of Cagayan and Isabela; the City Government of Tuguegarao under Mayor Delfin Ting, Congressman Randy Ting, various local government units of Cagayan and Isabela, the Ateneo de Tuguegarao Alumni Association headed by Victor Valdepenas, Ibanag Lawyers Group led by Atty. Marian Ivy Reyes-Fajardo, Mawwaragi Nat Tuguegarao, and the Cagayan State University."

This joyous affair was celebrated after the enthusiastic response of key officials of DepEd led by Secretary Luistro who has been instrumental in the completion of the conceptualization and pilot implementation of our MTB-MLE. 

More so, from the report of Dona Z Pazzibugan in PDI dated July 7, 2013, she wrote that based on a DepED order, the mother tongue or vernacular in the region, should be taught as a subject from Grades 1 to 3 and used as a medium of instruction from kindergarten to the first three years of grade school. In Grade 1, subjects in the native language include Math, Araling Panlipunan (AP), Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health (Mapeh) and Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (Values Education).

There are 181 documented languages in the Philippines; four have become extinct, while 24 others are either dying or in trouble of going extinct, according to the Summer Institute of Linguistics. Can we still afford to lose any language in our country? 

Ibanag language and culture

In Binay’s May 2012 speech, he totally deems that, “culture and history can never be discounted in the act of nation-building and the forging of national unity. History is the continuing narrative of a nation that extends into the future, and culture is a nation’s soul. Everything that we are and aspire to be comes from our national soul. For we are a people rich in heritage, gifted in the arts, and blessed in His bounty."

I only realized the beauty of my language and culture when I entered for college in UP Diliman and began studying anthropology. Perhaps I was not totally conscious about my uniqueness, or had not experienced any marginalization as an Ibanag. As I get immersed in my own culture, by joining my defunct provincial organization in the university - UP Kapinan, and later as a practicing anthropologist, and now as a professor of anthropology, I realized how much I should treasure forms of my tangible and intangible culture. 

Certainly, the Ibanags have beautiful language and culture, sumptuous food and delicacies, rich literature and songs which must be shared with fellow Ibanags not only in Region 2 or in Manila but also to Ibanag immigrants all over the world.

Successful and wealthy Ibanags are now spread worldwide and are willing to share their stories. Many illustrious Ibanags in various fields are very much proud of their Ibanag heritage. Without much ado, I can name prominent personalities that have Ibanag lineage including Vice President Jejomar Binay; Kontra-Gapi founder retired UP professor Edru Abraham; top singer Freddie Aguilar; artista Derek Ramsey, Coney Reyes, Michael V, and Maja Salvador; basketball players Jerry Codiñera and Rommel Adducul; senators Bong Revilla and Juan Ponce Enrile; and more.  

Filipinizing Romeo & Juliet in Philippine Theater

Photo from JMTRX Entertainment

By Chester B Cabalza

Blogger's Notes:
Commentary of an Academic (Copyright @ 2013 by Chester B Cabalza. All Rights Reserved).

One Sunday morning while browsing my laptop, sipping a cup of hot coffee, and munching on a piece of J.Co donut, surprisingly I mined an old file on Sintang Dalisay about a Filipino play which I’d seen last year at UP Asian Center. I thought of posting it in my blog to document an important play interpreted today in post-modern Philippine theater stage.

“Glocalizing” Shakespeare’s Greatest Love Story

From the promotional posters to the plot of this new breakthrough play based from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and National Artist for Literature Rolando Tinio’s translation of the play into Filipino, I was stunned at myself on how this theater experience of mine, came as a breath of fresh air.

It was a decade ago the last time I saw a play staged in UP. To be honest, I was still a college student then. 

By the time I read the synopsis of Sintang Dalisay, I knew that it was going to be a localized version of the infamous love story. However, upon entry into the GT Toyota Auditorium Center, a first for me as an alumnus of Asian Center, I thought I witnessed a ‘new world’, as if I was transported to southern Philippines. The play was about to start when I sat at the back of the hall; full-packed as I observed it, and the imam was already chanting. As the play went on, I heard almost all characters carried Islamic names – Rashiddin for Romeo and Jamila for Juliet. The igal dance movements manifested all throughout the play. The colorful costumes were a feast to my eyes and the clear dialogues sounded melodious to my ears especially when the actors expressed their conversations in Filipino.

The global fame of Romeo and Juliet’s plot was swiftly unrecognizable as variable elements of chanting by actors, playing of Islamic sounds by UP Kontra-gapi’s gamelan music, and indigenous dance movements, blended into fusion as the play went on. Then I thought of “glocalization” of the story that made it so much interesting and appealing for many viewers. As an audience myself, I felt that Shakespeare’s story vanished in split seconds but was transformed into a local narrative of Sintang Dalisay.

Deconstructing Badjao’s Dance Movements

Obviously, the igal dance inspired from the Badjao or Sama ethnic group set the play quite unique and entertaining. At first, I thought it was annoying, but since it was consistent from start to end, I began to appreciate it wisely.

The representation of the indigenous people, particularly the Badjao through the igal dance move, awed audiences of the rich culture of maritime peoples in insular Southeast Asia. Badjao or Orang Laut in Bahasa are found in littoral areas and fringes of the Sulu Sea, Celebes, and other parts of the Java Sea.

Based from ethnographic studies, the tradition or style of igal dancing is considered to be one of the most important forms of dance art mainly because it characterizes the postures and gestures that give emphasis on flexion of the fingers, wrists and arms. The dance is slow and leisurely moved evoking the gentle waters found in the inner seas.

As presented in the play, it is only proper that the this kind of choreography was used in a concocted and imagined Muslim setting with a powerful Islamic love story as a backdrop that generally touched the core values and culture of our Muslim brethren in Mindanao. I commend the artistic adaptation of the play that boldly captured the marginalized groups in the Philippines that should be empowered and accepted in our mainstream society. This could also be interpreted as a way of paying respect to our rich Islamic heritage in southern Philippines.

Sense of Community

Although, the denouement of the story was sobbingly tragic; notwithstanding that family feud and suicide were embedded in the adapted story, I still learned some values particularly the sense of community. Communal relationship, aside from the unrequited love of two young lovers, prevailed in the play. The epic of undying love ultimately reunited the community in its literal sense. What moved me most, after browsing some reviews about the play online, aside from winning awards and accolades locally and abroad, the play itself was used as an antidote to the protracted unsolved Ampatuan case. A gruesome family feud that led to one of the most controversial massacres the world had ever witnessed in recent history.    

From Turkey’s Protest to Egypt’s People Power

Photo taken from www.policymic.com

By Chester B Cabalza

Blogger's Notes:
Commentary of an Academic (Copyright @ 2013 by Chester B Cabalza. All Rights Reserved).


For the first time I arrived in Istanbul, the European side of Turkey, last April where I attended an international conference and presented a paper on the current status of the peace process in southern Philippines.

I remember during the welcome remarks of Yildiz Technical University’s president, being the modest host on behalf of his over a century old technical university, he welcomed all the pre-selected 30 social scientists and discussants across the continents in the world to the ‘most beautiful city’ on earth.

During the conference, I met Egyptian sociologist Ahmed Mousa Badawi, a fellow panel member, including scholars from Bulgaria and the USA with our moderator from UK. The panel we joined seen as exceptional group that represented different intellectuals from various continents of Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America.

Dr Badawi virtually became my friend through Facebook. When a people power recently erupted in Egypt, I saw his photos and read his up-to-date shout outs, as one of the prime movers in his country’s political upheavals, until the fall of President Mohammed Morsi.   

Just a brief observation, the touristic city of the Turks is a real standout surrounded by vestiges of the great Ottoman Empire. Grand mosques are all over the city with a special panoramic view during the Bosphorus tour.

I was totally awestruck upon seeing the most handsome mosque in the city – the Sultan Ahmed Mosque also known as the Blue Mosque for many non-Muslim tourists. The perfect domes and six minarets are a fusion of the Ottoman and Byzantine influences. The Hagia Sophia also exudes grandeur of the erstwhile Byzantine Empire.

Turkey, perceived as the most liberal Islamic country in the world was envisioned by the great reformist Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. 

Istanbul’s Occupy Gezi

During my wandering to the luxurious shopping lanes in Taksim Square before the Hash tag #Occupy Gezi trended in social media, I never imagined that only a month after my visit to Taksim, an environmental group’s outrage would erupt. Ultimately it turned out to be a political protest against authoritarian Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his brutal police force who tried evicting protesters in Taksim Gezi Park.

Last May, the famous Taksim business district ambushed by political unrest. Naysayers attributed it to Erdoğan's alleged plan to enact a new constitution based on a presidential system. As planned, the current prime minister will reap the fruit of his new political system, as its first president.

By chronology of events, initially the Taksim protest started when Turkish authorities planned to rehabilitate the Gezi Park as a pedestrian square and rebuild a military barracks. Environmentalist groups rallied for the protection of the park but the government's course of action using police brutality ignited certain Pandora's Box of fury which resulted to a series of antigovernment protests.

To end the conflict, five demands were issued by Taksim Solidarity, one of the prime movers in the Occupy Gezi protest. In gist, they insisted on the preservation of the park, observance of freedom of assembly, no to sale of public resources, no to arrest and torture, and respect the media. 

Cairo's political change

Egypt has had its historical share to the Arab spring based from popular revolutionary wave that began in December 2010 which ousted the three decade old regime of autocratic President Hosni Mumabrak. After 18 days of the first people power held at Cairo's Central Tahrir Square, Mubarak fell from his power.  

The second people power occurred when President Mohammed Morsi, the first democratically elected president in Egypt, has been overthrown by his people through a solid military intervention, with expired ultimatum ordered by Army chief General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to find a solution to meet the demands of antigovernment demonstrators in 48-hours. The 62-year-old president defiantly insisted on his legitimacy until he fell from his post and suffered tremendous dissatisfaction on his conduct to govern his country despite unlimited powers bestowed upon him to protect the nation.   

As the fifth president of Egypt, Morsi’s government backed by Islamists supporters has been tested thrice, and his abrupt fall in July 2013 touted as the ‘third wave of Egyptian revolution’ beginning 2011.

Morsi, as the successor of fallen leader Mubarak, was seen as a shadow of his mentor. When he accepted his defeat, he pronounced on national television, that Chief Justice Mansour would step in as interim president until new elections are held. However, the interim president Mansour was appointed to court by Mubarak and elevated to chief justice post by Morsi himself.

Is this a vicious cycle of political anomaly?  

In Ian Black’s analysis, Middle East editor of online news the Guardian, he highlighted opinions of leaders in the region.  Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad said that Morsi’s ouster represented the “fall of political Islam”. On the other hand, Turkey's foreign minister said that it was unacceptable that the Egyptian president had been toppled by a military coup.

Personal lens

What lessons can be drawn from the two political upheavals in Turkey and Egypt? 

From the traditional state-centric national power to human-centric form of security nowadays, point blank we can say that all leaders should listen to the voice of the people. Most leaders are democratically elected based on majority votes of the people. Therefore, as servant-leaders they should serve the interest of the nation-state and heed to those who elected them.  

Some scholars call the recent people power in Cairo a coup. However, in the discourse of coup d'etat, neither the conflict in Egypt was initiated by the military nor the government was overthrown by military forces. It was actually planned by Egyptian citizens. The voice of civilian people and the civil society has prevailed.

Social media certainly will play a major role in future dispositions of people power. Everybody around the world are interconnected now. We should not undermine the power of the people.

Gone are the days when pharaohs and sultans are the supreme being of their own lands. National and world leaders today are no longer invincible. They should serve the interests of the people and not the oligarchs.

Human rights must not be overruled by security actors such as the military and the police forces.  

People power is a gift because all of us are empowered to choose our own good leaders. Abusive leaders should end unaccountable governments and must be removed from their long-serving posts. Poor governance of hungry-tyrant leaders certainly brings economic uncertainty in many fronts.

Istanbul and Cairo should end their respective internal political strife and mature as moderate and democratic Islamic country. Two mighty ancient cities blessed with world touristic destinations that should never fail to show the real beauty of their countries to the entire world. 

Best Universities in Tuguegarao City

SPUP campus. Personal photo taken last May 2011

 By Chester B Cabalza

Blogger's Notes:
Commentary of an Academic (Copyright @ 2013 by Chester B Cabalza. All Rights Reserved).

Wisdom builds

Wisdom builds goes the motto of the University of Saint Louis Tuguegarao or USLT, formerly known as Saint Louis College of Tuguegarao or SLCT, a premiere private Roman Catholic school in Cagayan Valley.

Founded in 1945 by Belgian missionaries and currently run by a congregation with Latin-inspired name, Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae or CICM, which traces its roots from the defunct Ateneo de Tuguegarao.

As a back story, cheesy buzz is circulating around the small city of the Ibanags that wealthy alumni of the then Jesuit school is planning to resurrect the old male school to rival USLT and the other prestigious academic institution in town, Saint Paul University Philippines (SPUP).

This I heard myself in Coconut Palace in Manila during special meetings or gatherings among fellow Ibanags and from few active alumni members of the school.  

Home of the topnotchers, proudly banners my high school alma mater, evidenced by the increasing topnotch students the university produces in various national board examinations. It has gauged a niche as the best school of choice for accountancy and engineering in Region II.

Fortunately, the long tradition of academic excellence ingrained among its expanding alumni and current students is etched on its hymn to train the body and mind of the entire studentry.  The Louisian spirit spreads its wisdom from Baguio city where Saint Louis University (SLU) is known to be its mother school or university of the Louisian brand, cascading its brightness to other multihued St Louis campuses in San Fernando city in La Union, Cebu city, and Bacolod city. 

Center of excellence

The Saint Paul University Philippines or SPUP fortified its academic spot in the region as the center of excellence on education.

SPUP drew its simple beginnings from the voyage along the mighty Cagayan river of the pioneering six sisters of the Saint Paul Chartres Congregation from Nueva Segovia to establish a Catholic school in the old town of Tuguegarao during the American period in 1907.

It is one year older than the University of the Philippines (UP). SPUP was granted a university status by the Philippine government in 1982 and enjoys full autonomy status by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) since 2002.

The Paulinians in Tuguegarao are proud of their centennial culture of academic excellence. Being the first Catholic university in Asia to be ISO 9001 certified it has only symbolized the strong commitment of SPUP to give quality education to the people of Tuguegarao. Undoubtedly, the university continuously believes in its mission and vision to help in nation-building through quality education.

This mother university of St Paul schools founded in Tuguegarao is known for producing top notch nurses working in different parts of the world. It has recently opened a medical program to educate and train pioneering medical students who will soon manage their excellent hospital in the city. The Paulinian tradition can also be experienced in other campuses in Surigao city, Dumaguete city, Iloilo city, and Quezon city.

A pioneer in law and marine engineering

The University of Cagayan Valley or UCV, known before as the Cagayan Colleges of Tuguegarao (CCT) and Cagayan Teachers College (CTC), is a pioneering university for legal, criminal, and marine engineering programs in the region.

Although, it does not enjoy much prestige as a private academic institution compared with its counterpart private Catholic schools in the city, still the UCV remains special as it established itself as an alternative school of learning that offers affordable higher education.

It houses the only college of law in the province that belongs to the prestigious 50 top law schools in the country. By sheer hard work and luck, this university produces lawyers annually despite the legendary tough BAR examination.

Never underestimate its facilities. Since the college has morphed wonderfully into university, it has continued investing in state-of-the-art facilities including a mock ship, the largest gymnasium in town, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and has two campuses within the city.   

It has produced competent lawyers, top criminologists, and sea captains circumnavigating around the world. From an academic institution envisioned to specialize in producing educators and teachers, nonetheless, this underdog university in the region found a niche in other specialized courses. I could heartily say this because my mom contributed a lot in founding the colleges of liberal arts, criminology, and marine engineering during its inception.

The province’s state university

The Cagayan State University or CSU is the largest state institution of higher learning in Cagayan Valley established in 1978 through Presidential Decree 1436, later amended by Republic Act 9282.  Satellite campuses are also strategically located in the municipalities of Aparri, Piat, Lasam, Sanchez Mira with two campuses in Tuguegarao city.

The main campus boasts Greco-Roman designed edifices. Its elegant columns are the main attraction among iskolar ng bayan in the city. CSU offers the largest number of curricular program offerings in the province. It is a public university in the region which pioneered to offer medicine and surgery, mass communication, crop and animal sciences, agricultural engineering, and veterinary medicine programs, to name a few. CSU has also a thriving college of law.

I commend some of its primordial programs, particularly on agricultural, aquatic, and medical courses. Cagayan Valley is primarily an agricultural region and the educational programs CSU has been offering is responsive to the needs of the people in major rural parts of the province or the entire region. 

Opportunities and challenges

The Marian university of USLT, together with equally successful universities in Tuguegarao city, including SPUP, UCV, and CSU, established since pre and post World War II have had tremendously elevated the quality of education in the region. These institutions of higher education have continuously shaped minds and molded core values of the different ethnic groups co-existing in Cagayan Valley.

Tuguegarao city as the regional hub of Region II should not remain complacent of the status quo, but rather aspire to become a medium-sized from a small-sized component city. The flourishing city is already equipped with fundamental socio-economic elements. What is needed now is how to capitalize on its prime potential on education.

The city of Tuguegarao, the province of Cagayan, and the entire region of Cagayan valley should remain steadfast to achieve above average human development index. There’s no way but to move forward and show to other cities, provinces, and regions in the Philippines that with good universities based in Tuguegarao, it will definitely train the body and minds of young people that will benefit all the stakeholders in the region.

I see a promising Tuguegarao city. Given an ample time and progressive leaders armed with right education bestowed by its good universities, there’s no reason to fail but to aspire for bigger dreams.

Many of the people in the region were schooled in the good universities in Tuguegarao city are making marks and niches in the national scene and the global arena. To all proud alumni of the universities in the city, let’s make Tuguegarao the prime hub of learners or a university city of Region II.

I wish that a future president or vice president of the Philippines or perhaps secretaries of the various departments in the bureaucracy, top experts and scientists teaching in top universities in the Philippines will trace their intellectual traditions among the best universities based in Tuguegarao city.

Despite countless opportunities courtesy of good education in Tuguegarao city, one of the challenges ahead is how to make it on the Top 10 list of the best universities in the Philippines or even make it to the Top 300 best universities in Asia. The world is deterritorializing and has now become a global village. Universities in Tuguegarao city must compete globally and aspire for higher standard of higher learning.

West Philippine Sea is not entirely South China Sea

Pag-asa island/source of photo http://jibrael.blogspot.com

By Chester B Cabalza

Blogger's Notes:
Commentary of an Academic (Copyright @ 2013 by Chester B Cabalza. All Rights Reserved).


Conceptual and geographical configurations

The Republic of the Philippines is not claiming entirely the South China Sea (SCS). The recently concocted geographical features of the West Philippine Sea (WPS) is stipulated in President Benigno Aquino's Administrative Order No 29, promulgated last September 5, 2012.

The WPS does not explicitly configure and cover all of the contested SCS. 

To level off our understanding about the geographical and maritime contours of WPS and SCS, the prestigious UP Asian Center courtesy of Dr Aileen S.P. Baviera and Atty Jay Batongbacal provided us a primer on the West Philippine Sea: The Territorial and Maritime Jurisdiction Disputes from a Filipino Perspective (read related primer at  

http://philippinesintheworld.org/sites/default/files/UP_Primer%20on%20the%20West%20Philippine%20Sea_April%202013_0.pdf).

In the said primer, WPS refers to the part of the SCS that is closest, and of vital interest, to the Philippines. Administrative Order No. 29, Section 1, provides that the “maritime areas on the western side of the Philippine archipelago are hereby named as the West Philippine Sea.” It includes “the Luzon Sea, as well as the waters around, within and adjacent to the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), and Bajo de Masinloc also known as Scarborough Shoal” (2013:1 General Introduction).

Meanwhile, Baviera and Batongbacal illustrate SCS as the much broader expanse of water, often described as a semi enclosed sea, bounded by China/Taiwan in the north, by the Philippines in the east, and by Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Brunei in the west and south. Scattered over the South China Sea are various geographic features, the most prominent of which are known internationally as the Spratlys, the Paracels, Macclesfield Bank and Pratas Island. There are overlapping claims by various countries to these features and to the waters and resources surrounding them, including parts of the West Philippine Sea (Ibid).

Prof Rommel Banlaoi’s post on facebook last June 14, 2013 describes SCS referring to the body of water encompassing the Malacca Strait and Taiwan Strait covering an area of 3,500 square kilometers. China claims almost 80 percent of this water while Vietnam almost 60 percent. The WPS only refers to the part of the SCS within the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) and the Bajo de Masinloc (Panatag, Scarborough) Shoal. The WPS does not cover the whole SCS. WPS is not a substitute name for the SCS. WPS represents a portion of the SCS that the Philippines claims as part of its maritime territory.

Retrospective statements

Earlier in an interview with Asia Times Online last September 15, 2012, I said that China’s baselines are all expressed in its coastal geography through a U-shaped line in the South China Sea and in several offshore places. This exceeds those allowed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and international law. On the other hand, the Philippines being an archipelagic country, is entitled to enclose large bodies of water within the baselines and assert sovereignty over it (read related article at http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/NI15Ae02.html).

In a phone interview with Philippine Daily Inquirer, I clearly stated in the article published on December 2, 2012 that China’s most recent muscle flexing to lay claim to the disputed territories in the South China Sea is, therefore, a “wake-up” call for the Philippines. I said this in the context that our reawakening [from the escalating maritime disputes in SCS] always starts with a conflict. This made us look at our defense policies anew (read related story at http://globalnation.inquirer.net/58487/row-with-china-a-reawakening-for-ph-defense). 

Because of (my) profound and personal views in trying to expound details on our country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and freedom of navigation or to enlighten some closed-minded policy-makers on the state of our external defense; surprisingly, netizens in the borderless cyberspace continued circulating news feeds online. But oftentimes (mis)interpreted or (mis)translated my statements in various languages including Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, and even Spanish.

I have had also monitored think thanks virtually collating news articles in their respective news bulletin each time I google my name. Some patriotic advocacy groups on facebook even invited me in their accounts to call the attention of defense leaders to help modernize our country’s armed forces.

But being an academic, I need to be objective and non-partisan. I also had shared some of my thoughts on timely issues with China and Taiwan live via DZUP early this year. Flabbergasted when top opinion-maker, Inquirer’s Conrado de Quiros, favorably cited me last year in his column (see related column at http://opinion.inquirer.net/42123/crisis).

Repercussions

The porous maritime borders of the Philippines certainly has affected us why we lost or losing some of our important territories from our adversary and neighboring claimant-countries in SCS.

As Chinese naval power flexes its muscle, we certainly had lost Mischief Reef in 1995, Scarborough Shoal in 2011, Ayungin Reef in 2013, and perhaps the entire WPS in the future from China’s rising military power.

With the arbitration process on the side, Chinese authorities reject it and commence in calling the Philippines a bully. How come a small country like ours, asking for military support from political allies, is being questioned suspiciously and done a reverse psychology by his big brother? 

I remember saying the same message in one interview, although, my statements were published in two separate stories that:

Firstly, [The conflict with China] greatly impacts on us because the Philippines’ strategy has been to use international legal instruments because that’s the most we can do. We cannot contain the maritime strength of China because we lack the capability. A diplomatic protest is the most we can do (read related article published last November 30, 2012 at http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/315873/gazmin-calls-for-formal-protest-of-chinese-naval-patrol-of-disputed-territories).

Secondly, the Philippines has long been confronted in the West Philippine Sea but has had limited capabilities to address this security issue. Moreover, the country has been focusing on an internal armed conflict for decades that external defense, such as the tug-of-war over territories in these waters, has been a secondary preoccupation for the government (read related article published on December 2, 2012 at http://globalnation.inquirer.net/58487/row-with-china-a-reawakening-for-ph-defense). 

Our problem with national sovereignty and territorial integrity boils down to various causes and effects. Apparently, there are conflicting international laws and historical claims among claimants. The Philippines suffers lack of maritime patrol due to lack of manpower, patrol assets, technology, surveillance system, and the mother of all issues – budget. There are also overlapping EEZ provided by UNCLOS.

Definitely, there are many countries that have interests in the SCS as one of the major sea lines of communications (SLOCS) in the world. It will also result to incursion by claimant countries given the absence of an agreed code of conduct. As an effect, there will be confusing occupations and use of force which is very apparent now that will definitely challenge sovereignty and reduce territories of a country. Consequently, loss of economic activity to local fisher folks or to the national economy of a country as a whole may result.

Furthermore, as tension escalates, it may further call for increased patriotism from each claimant-country. As political bickering rises, perhaps what we all fear to happen in the future may happen unless stakeholders clearly manage and responsibly resolve the territorial problem. 

Geographically speaking, WPS does not cover entirely the SCS. Don’t invade the West Philippine Sea!

Taj Mahal, Agra, India

Photographs by CBCabalza. Copyright © 2013 by Chester B. Cabalza. All Rights Reserved.