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Pia Lee-Brago - The Philippine Star
February 19, 2026 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Only a Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea anchored on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) will be acceptable to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Philippines’ top diplomat said.
In an interview with Deutsche Welle at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend, Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro outlined the Philippines’ priorities as ASEAN chair in 2026, including pushing for the conclusion of a legally binding COC with China.
Lazaro said the Philippines would insist that the COC explicitly references UNCLOS as negotiations move toward completing the document within the year.
Last month, Lazaro convened the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Cebu, the first ministerial gathering under the country’s ASEAN chairmanship.
“We have concluded that we endeavor to finish the ASEAN-China COC on the SCS. It has been under negotiations for the last 15, 17 years but I guess ASEAN has already invested so much on this Code of Conduct,” she said.
She noted that China had agreed to hold monthly face-to-face meetings with ASEAN in a bid to accelerate the negotiations.
“Our main objective here is to have a COC that is UNCLOS-based. We will not accept any other regimes and we have conveyed this to China,” Lazaro stated.
She stressed that it is high time to finalize the COC, which has lingered in uncertainty since 1992.
Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan acknowledged the slow pace of negotiations.
“Work hard, meet each other halfway,” Jing said, adding that a COC would lay a solid foundation for bilateral relations.
West Philippine Sea debate
Meanwhile, retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio on Tuesday said the Philippines has nothing to lose, whether or not it submits maps assigning coordinates to illustrate the West Philippine Sea (WPS), describing the move as merely an administrative requirement under international law.
In an interview over radio dzBB on Feb. 18, Carpio reiterated the need to “correct” recent statements by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, who earlier challenged him to a “freewheeling” debate on the WPS.
“He said there is no West Philippine Sea and that if there is no map, then we have no claim. That has to be corrected because he is being heard. He is a high government official, a senator whom the public listens to and might believe. We have to clarify that,” Carpio said, referring to Marcoleta.
Carpio explained that submitting geographical coordinates of maritime limits is simply a requirement under the UNCLOS and carries no penalty if a country fails to comply.
“Under UNCLOS, the requirement is simply that we submit the geographical coordinates of our limits. We should submit, but there is no penalty. There is nothing that says if you fail to submit, you lose your exclusive economic zone (EEZ),” he said.
“A lot of countries have not submitted the limits, the coordinates of their EEZ because they have nothing to lose,” he added.
Carpio also stressed that there is no formal mechanism within the international community to recognize the WPS as a name, except through the 2016 Arbitral Award that invalidated China’s expansive nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea.
“The international community has already acknowledged the UNCLOS tribunal’s ruling that we have sovereign rights and jurisdiction… It is up to us what we want to call this area where we have sovereign rights and jurisdiction,” he said.
Carpio cited the 2016 Arbitral Award, Administrative Order No. 29 issued in 2012 by former president Benigno Aquino III and Republic Act 12064 or the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, which define the maritime zones, territorial sea and extended continental shelf on the country’s western side as the West Philippine Sea.
He also dismissed Marcoleta’s claim that four islands in the Kalayaan Island Group are not part of the country’s EEZ.
“Sovereignty over the Kalayaan Island Group is territorial and not governed by UNCLOS,” Carpio said.
Amid the exchange between the two, the Philippine Bar Association expressed hope that Carpio and Marcoleta would agree on a common topic for a proposed public debate on the WPS.
PBA president Rachelle Aileen Santos said the organization would reach out to both camps to craft suggested debate topics that both sides could agree upon.
She acknowledged that their differing propositions pose a challenge in finalizing the debate format.
“If they cannot even agree on the definition of the proposition, then I’m afraid all of these discussions will be for nothing,” Santos said.
Despite their differences, Santos said she hopes both sides would recognize the PBA’s sincerity in organizing the debate.
Former senator Francis Tolentino, however, questioned the relevance of a map-based debate.
Speaking at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum yesterday, Tolentino said, “Using a map is wrong because it never appeared in UNCLOS. Articles 14 and 16 mention only charts and coordinates.”– Ghio Ong, Andrew Ronquillo
