A POINT OF AWARENESS – Preciosa S. Soliven (The Philippine Star)
December 13, 2018
Part II
Before World War II, China’s southernmost defense perimeter was Hainan Island. Before the war, China did not have a single soldier or sailor stationed in any island in the South China Sea other than in Hainan Island. China’s creeping expansion began in 1946, right after the war, following the defeat of the Japanese, moving China’s defense perimeter southward. The following year in 1947, China forcible dislodged the South Vietnamese from the Crescent Group of the Paracels.
In 1987, China occupied Fiery Cross Reef on the pretext of building a weather radar station to assist UNESCO in its global oceanic survey but in 2014-2015 China reclaimed Fiery Cross Reef into a 270-hectare island, hosting a military airbase with a three-kilometer military grade runway and a seaport. In 1988, China forcibly evicted Vietnam from Johnson South Reef, moving further south China’s defense perimeter in the Spratlys. Also in the same year China seized Subi Reef from the Philippines by erecting a radar structure and military facilities on the reef. Subi Reef forms part of Palawan’s continental shelf where Tubattaha Reef, one of the five Philippine International Heritage sites is. Moreover China dredged Mischief Reef, located 125 miles from Palawan and created a 590-hectare artificial island, hosting an air-and-naval base with a three-kilometer military grade runway. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), only the Philippines can erect structures or create an artificial island on Subi Reef and Mischief Reef. Thus, China and the Philippines, which have both ratified UNCLOS, have the obligation to comply in good faith with the Award.
The Murillo-Velarde map ‘Mother of all Philippine maps’
An official replica of the priceless Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de la Yslas Filipinas Manila 1734, also known as the Murillo-Velarde map, which is regarded as the “mother of all Philippine maps” was turned over by IT entrepreneur and philanthropist Mel Velarde to the DFA Secretary in a simple ceremony at the Office of the Secretary, DFA Building on May 30, 2017. Mel Velarde bidded for the 1734 Murillo-Velarde map and donated it to the Filipino people to show the world that Scarborough Shoal and Spratlys were part of the Philippine territory since 1734.
Considered as the “holy grail” of Philippine cartography, the 1734 Murillo-Velarde map shows the entire Philippine archipelago in such detail that it is regarded as the first ever, scientific map of the Philippines. The map was named after the Spanish Jesuit friar Pedro Murillo Velarde who prepared it with the help of two Filipinos, Francisco Suarez, who drew the map, and Nicolas dela Cruz Bagay, who engraved it. The Murillo-Velarde map, as historic artifact, was cited in the Philippine complaint against China at the UNCLOS.