Ateneo FactCheck 2013 Eight Brief

Fact Check: Foreign Relations Claim: No senatorial candidate has a comprehensive plan to address the issue on territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea and Sabah. Fact Checked: Over the past months, the Philippines has been embroiled in successive territorial disputes with two Asian powersChina and Malaysia. China aggressively insists a historic claim over the Scarborough Shoal (West Philippine Sea), while the followers of the Sultan of Sulu trooped to Lahad Datu, a part of Sabah, to assert its ownership of the land. Many Filipinos lauded President Benigno Aquino for taking a firm stand on the West Philippine Sea, having brought the case before the Arbitral Tribunal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). But the Administration seemed to turn a deaf ear to the question of helping the historical Sultanate of Sulu pursue its claim over Sabah. This FactCheck aims to see who amongst the top 20 senatorial candidates in the Social Weather Station (SWS) senatorial survey from April 13-15, 2013 will have agenda of pushing forth the countrys territorial claims over said disputed territories. Almost all the senatorial candidates except for Koko Pimentel, JV Ejercito, Jamby Madrigal, and Richard Gordon, for which we couldnt find any information on their stand, have put faith and confidence that the government have been well handling the Philippines claim over the West Philippine Sea. They even commended the step taken in bringing the case to an international tribunal. On the other hand, Chiz Escudero, Koko Pimentel, Grace Poe, Gringo Honasan, Migs Zubiri, Risa Hontiveros, and Ernesto Maceda all believe that the Philippines has a valid and legitimate claim over Sabah, and that the government should not take aside this claim. It should be noted however that no senatorial candidate so far has put the territorial claims of the Philippines on their legislative agenda.
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