By Patricia Lourdes Viray
MANILA, Philippines — It was relatively quiet and peaceful in the South China Sea during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her lawyer Estelito Mendoza said Thursday.
Mendoza, a Marcos-era solicitor general, said that China did not contest the Philippines' baselines following the enactment of Republic Act 9522, which defined the archipelagic baselines of the country, in 2009.
RA 9522 declared that the Philippines exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over a "Regime of Islands" consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This includes the Kalayaan Island Group and Bajo de Masinloc or the Scarborough Shoal.
"China did not contest our 12-mile territorial sea. China implicitly recognized our 200-mile exclusive economic zone but it protested our claim over the Kalayaan Group of Islands and the Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal," Mendoza said in a televised press conference during the launch of a West Philippine Sea primer.
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