West Philippine Sea exists under International Law

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During a House hearing on February 2, 2026, Senator Rodante Marcoleta asserted that โ€œ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐œ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ฌ ๐–๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐’๐ž๐šโ€ claiming that the name does not appear on maps and implying that it is merely a Philippine label rather than an internationally recognized maritime area.

He argued that the concept of the West Philippine Sea is a โ€œ๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐›๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฌโ€, emphasizing naming recognition rather than the application of maritime law, and claiming that maps do not officially show it.

However, this assertion is contrary to what Senator Kiko Pangilinan has strongly emphasizedโ€”that the ๐–๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐’๐ž๐š, and by extension, features in the ๐Š๐š๐ฅ๐š๐ฒ๐š๐š๐ง ๐ˆ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ ๐†๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฉ, enjoy ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ข๐ ๐ง ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฌ under ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐š๐ฐ.

Senator Pangilinan also condemned foreignโ€”particularly Chineseโ€”claims that contradict these rights and has urged respect for the ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ฌโ€™ ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ ๐”๐๐‚๐‹๐Ž๐’.

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