First of two parts
Seventeen-year-old Jayka Pabion, a senior high school student from Palawan, cannot help but worry about the escalating conflict between the Philippines and China.
“I worry about what is happening… about our safety, especially since mama is far away from us,” she told The Flame. She is studying in Bataraza while her mother works in their hometown at Bunog, Rizal.
Palawan, which has jurisdiction over the Kalayaan Island Group or the Spratlys, lies on the front line of the maritime conflict. Residents are used to hearing news of Chinese ships surrounding Filipino fishing boats or, worse, ramming coast guard vessels. But some days, the tension feels closer to home.
On August 5, residents of Puerto Princesa, the capital city of Palawan, were startled by the sound of explosions and the sight of a smoke trail in the sky. Local news outlet Palawan News reported that China had launched a Long March 12 rocket from Wenchang to deploy internet satellites into low Earth orbit.
No damage or injuries were recorded but the Palawan Provincial Board asked the military for a security briefing. It was not the first time that debris from China’s rocket launches could be witnessed from Palawan, but local officials expressed concerns that the drop zones seemed to be getting closer to land.
Verbal exchanges and sea incidents between Manila and Beijing have become a routine concern for people living along Palawan’s coasts. In Pabion’s village, it often comes up in daily conversations, especially among fisherfolk.
It’s a regular topic at the dinner table at home — all the more because her mother serves as the community representative of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).
Pabion hopes to also work at BFAR someday and follow in her mother’s footsteps. “I see in my mom how she handles the issues that come her way, how she fights for the rights of the people here and back in our hometown,” she said.
But Pabion feels she still does not know enough about what’s going on. She wished they were taught about the West Philippine Sea in class.
She recalled an old conversation among her classmates about a Facebook post claiming that China’s maritime claim was legitimate because the Philippines supposedly ceded part of its territory to Beijing in the 1800s.
It was purely disinformation, with no basis in fact, but no one in the class knew how to challenge it.
West Philippine Sea mandatory class
This is the challenge that proposed bills in Congress seek to address. Senate Bill No. 577 and the House Bill 1625 are pushing for the mandatory teaching of the history of the West Philippine Sea and the country’s victory in the arbitration case against China, which rejected Beijing’s “nine-dash line” sweeping claims over the South China Sea.
The proposals also aim to help students understand the importance of protecting the country’s maritime jurisdiction despite China’s refusal to recognize the ruling.
The bills have drawn support among experts and educators, although there are also calls to ensure that schools are adequately equipped to teach it and it would not cause undue fears among students.
If passed, all primary and secondary schools will be required to include in their curricula the history and legal foundations of the Philippines’ rights over the disputed maritime features — including the significance of the 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the July 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration Award in favor of the Philippines.
The proposed bills underscore the need to foster patriotism and nationalism among the youth — the same call that has driven retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio to travel around the country giving lectures on the Philippines’ maritime claims.
Young people, the bill’s supporters say, would be better equipped to counter disinformation about the disputed waters if they were taught about the old maps Carpio has highlighted, showing that the Kalayaan Island Group and Scarborough Shoal near Zambales appeared in early Philippine maps.
Among them is the 1734 Murillo Velarde map, an official Spanish royal map that includes the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal. He also cites the 1898 Treaty of Paris and the 1900 Treaty of Washington, the latter confirming the continued inclusion of these maritime features in Philippine maps even as colonial powers redefined and transferred control of the archipelago through treaties of cession and sale.
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration also ruled that China’s “nine-dash line” claim in the South China Sea has no legal basis. The tribunal also affirmed the Philippines’ sovereign rights to resources within its exclusive economic zone, including the West Philippine Sea.
Students’ struggles
Pabion said the last time the West Philippine Sea was discussed in class was two years ago, during her Araling Panlipunan subject in Grade 10.
“Do any of you have information about the West Philippine Sea?,” she remembered the teacher asking the class. “We told her we did not know anything yet.”
She recalled the teacher briefly explaining how the dispute in the West Philippine Sea began, but the discussion was short and came amid many other school requirements. She could not recall much of what was taught.
That teacher was Lynne Elegino, who has taught for six years at Bunog National High School in Rizal, Palawan. She told The Flame she occasionally adds brief discussions on the West Philippine Sea under topics such as globalization, “so that the children are aware of what is happening and we could discuss it in school.”
Elegino said the Department of Education’s (DepEd) MATATAG curriculum mentions the country’s rights over West Philippine Sea at least four times, but “there is no part that focuses only on the West Philippine Sea,” she said.
The topic is also not included in the list of learning competencies indicated in the curriculum.
For Elegino, the struggle to teach the topic also stems from the lack of support given to teachers like her.
“Our problem is we don’t have materials. Like now, we don’t have books. So we’re having a hard time teaching the kids,” Elegino said.
Beyond the legal basis
For UST Asian Studies instructor Regina Pato-Agustin, a mandatory education on the West Philippine Sea should be directed at creating a more “unified” and “consolidated” stand on the issue.
She said such changes require discussions not only on the legal basis of the Philippines’ claims but also on the effect of the maritime tension on Filipino communities nestled in vulnerable areas.
“It’s part of us, part of trying to create a more unified or more consolidated stand on the issue, not just the government but ordinary citizens as well,” Agustin said.
“[If] we provide our people with this kind of information, they will start to realize that it’s not just a piece of…island that is detached from their reality, but rather an important part of our nation.”
Agustin cited the need for the government to implement the mandatory teaching of West Philippine Sea topics in a “developmentally appropriate” way to avoid instilling panic or fear among learners.
“So, for example, for younger students, maybe we can focus on what the area is all about, why are we claiming it, and things like what are the resources that are there, or how does it help the Filipino communities,” she said, adding that other intricacies or implications of the issue should be included depending on the maturity of students.
A course on the dispute must also focus on helping students rationalize the importance of maintaining a stand against incursions, she added.
Agustin pointed out that focusing on the security and strategic aspect of the topic could negatively affect students’ participation in class — a scene witnessed many times by Elegino, who found it difficult to keep some of her students interested on the topic.
Agustin suggested the inclusion of sessions on diplomacy efforts to encourage a peaceful resolution instead of focusing solely on security measures.
“Conflict and war are not the only solutions. Maybe that’s one of the talking points that can be included when discussing the issue,” she said. F
Editor’s Note: This story is published through a grant awarded by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
