MANILA, Philippines — A retired Supreme Court associate justice has cited the importance of the arbitral award and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in enabling the country to harness all its rich natural resources for the “blue economy.”

Lawyer Francis Jardeleza quashed the nine-dash line being declared by China, saying it does not exist, in an interview during the first episode of “The Way Forward (TWF)” on CNN Philippines recently.

“The EEZ is the economic zone. It was agreed upon by the countries that first met to form the treaty that is now the UNCLOS. The EEZ is an invention of the UNCLOS. So they say, we give each country 200 nautical miles from the outer parts to make it simple,” Jardeleza explained.

“Sovereignty, to put it in simple terms, is like – we are sovereign over Luzon because Luzon is our territory, we have full civil, political control – the Philippines (is) over Luzon,” he said.

He stressed that sovereign rights are over an area outside the territory and the country has 200 nautical miles of such rights from shoreline.

“So we have the right to exploit the fish and the right to exploit the underground minerals (there),” he said.

On the other hand, Rhodora Azanza, president of the National Academy of Science and Technology of the Philippines, explained that blue economy is a new platform for development that involves the sustainable utilization of marine resources for the good of the community and for preservation of the marine base or marine environment.

“We are advocating the use of science, technology and innovation not only for the preservation and sustainable utilization of the marine environment but all the natural endowments of the country,” Azanza, also guest speaker during the forum, said.

Meanwhile, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement president Edicio dela Torre expressed support for the creation of a government agency dedicated to fishermen to create a balance in fishing and land-based agriculture.

Dela Torre said fisherfolk organizations in different parts of the country have complained that the government has neglected them, adding that fishermen have not received the same level of attention and support, compared to farmers.

“The Philippines is more than 300,00 square kilometers of land and the country’s EEZ is 2.2 million square kilometers, which is why the fishing sector is important,” he said.

“We are the 15th largest fishing nation in the world. The Philippines is a maritime and archipelagic nation or MANA. This is our MANA. We must defend it,” he added.

“There’s one point we all agreed on – there’s a need for a Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources so there can be focus, not only for support and resources but also for policy because agriculture is so broad,” Dela Torre said.

He stressed the need to harmonize policies and give enough support to fishermen.

The TWF is a talk show that discusses and investigates issues impacting the Philippines and Asia. Its goal is to explain critical topics with unfiltered data and objective points of view.