- City Council draws line on South China Sea dispute
MEMBERS of the 20th City Council urged the administration and national officials to pursue all diplomatic channels instead of fanning the fire in the ongoing territorial dispute with China over the South China Sea.
The city council approved a proposed resolution entitled “Re-expressing that the people of the city of Davao renounce war as an instrument of national policy” under suspended rules during the 15th regular session on April 23.
Sectoral youth representative Kristine Mercado and Councilor Jonard Dayap, the committee on future generations chairman, co-authored the resolution.
After the session adjourned, lawmakers wore shirts printed with “No to War” in bold colors of red and black, held a banner with the same message, and posed in front of the session hall to further reinforce their collective stance.
The resolution stressed that the territorial claims of the People’s Republic of China over the South China Sea, and the encroachment of the country’s exclusive economic zones, require a determined stand to call for the observance of the rules of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).
The resolution requested the national policymakers to adhere to “the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation, and amity with all nations” as stated in Section 2, Article II of the 1987 Constitution.
“Assertion for the observance and respect of our nation’s “Sovereign Rights”, however, need not be through armed confrontation, and should not lead to war,” stated the resolution.
The council called on the national government to exhaust available formal and informal mechanisms to enforce the nation’s rights and continue to renounce war.
“Any armed confrontation raises the probability of conflict escalation leading to war, and the people of Davao hope and pray for peace to reign in our country and the entire region,” the resolution further reads.
The resolution was approved with unanimous votes.
Dayap manifested that the best interest of the young generation of Davao is to “stand for peace and not war.”
