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Justice department to reopen Pimentel probe for violation of lockdown rules

THE DEPARTMENT of Justice (DoJ) will reopen its investigation of an administration senator for violating quarantine rules at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, it said on Thursday.

The agency received a copy of a memo from the National Bureau of Investigation (BI) dated Aug. 24 regarding the case of Senator Aquilino L. Pimentel III, including an incident report submitted by the director of Makati Medical Center, Assistant State Prosecutor Wendell P. Bendoval said in an order.

“In view of the foregoing and in line with the policy of admitting all evidence that could assist in the judicious resolution of complaints, the preliminary investigation of this case is hereby reopened,” according to a copy of the order.

Government prosecutors ordered the parties including Mr. Pimentel to  comment on the memo by Sept. 21. The Justice department had submitted the case for resolution in July.

Mr. Pimentel tested positive for the coronavirus in March while he was at the hospital with his wife, who was then due to give birth.

The senator was accused of violating a law that required him to disclose his illness when he accompanied his pregnant wife to the Makati Medical Center. Violators of the law may be fined as much as P50,000 or jailed for six months.

The hospital earlier rebuked Mr. Pimentel for being reckless and irresponsible. He has apologized, saying he did not mean to harm anyone. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Gov’t may ease ban on health workers’ deployment — Roque

THE GOVERNMENT is studying a proposal to relax its deployment ban for health workers by allowing those whose contracts were signed as of August to leave the country.

Presidential spokesman Harry L. Roque told an online news briefing on Thursday he would bring this up to an inter-agency task force on the coronavirus and President Rodrigo R. Duterte himself.

Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III this week said he wanted to ease the ban.

In an order dated April 2, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) suspended the deployment of doctors and nurses while the country was in a state of national emergency.

Also covered by the ban were microbiologists, molecular biologists, medical technologists, clinical analysts, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, laboratory and X-ray technicians, nursing aids, medical equipment operators, health supervisors and hospital equipment repair men.

POEA also suspended negotiations for government-to-government deployment of health workers.

It said the country’s health facilities, personnel and other resources were under severe strain due to the rising number of persons affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to the order signed by Mr. Bello, who heads the POEA board.

Only medical professionals whose contracts were signed on or before March 8 were allowed to work overseas.

The Philippines was 290,000 short of health workers last year, which was aggravated by the migration of 13,000 health professionals, POEA said earlier, citing a Human Resources for Health Network report.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. had said the deployment ban violates citizens’ right to travel. — Gillian M. Cortez

Regional Updates (09/10/20)

Quarantine facility

THE DEPARTMENT of Public Works and Highways turned over on Sept. 10 these 40-footer container vans that have been converted into a quarantine facility to the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Located inside  Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo in Quezon City, the facilty can accommodate 56 coronavirus patients. The P19.6 million cost was sourced from the  DPWH National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund.

Trade, Labor, Transportation departments to draft guidelines on expanded mass transport

DETAILED GUIDELINES on increasing mass transportation, particularly in the National Capital Region (NCR), will be jointly drafted by three departments — trade, labor, and transportation, according to the Palace. Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque confirmed on Thursday that the task force handling the coronavirus response approved the economic development cluster’s recommendation to expand mass transport through Resolution No. 69 dated September 7. The specifics, however, are still being finalized to ensure the observance of health standards as the economy reopens. Based on the resolution, more lanes and stops for buses and jeepneys will be set up in major routes. The resolution also approved service contracting of public utility vehicles to serve as partial subsidy to operators. — Gillian M. Cortez

Cebu province penalizes improper disposal of face masks

A FINE of as much as P5,000 or six months in prison, or both, will be imposed on those caught violating rules on the proper disposal of face masks as well as those not wearing one outside of residence in Cebu province. The provincial board approved on September 7 the ordinance defining the penalties as well as guidelines such as the mandatory provision of a separate garbage bin for disposable face masks in all public offices and business establishments. Households are also required to have a separate waste container for used masks. The ordinance applies to the six component cities of Cebu (Danao, Talisay, Toledo, Bogo, Carcar, and Naga) and 44 municipalities.

Nationwide round-up

American marine’s pardon could be for ‘broader national interest’  in COVID-19 vaccine, says President’s spokesperson

PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESPERSON Harry L. Roque said the absolute pardon given to Joseph Scott Pemberton, a US marine convicted in 2015 for killing a Filipino sex worker, could be tied to the President’s intent to have the country prioritized when a coronavirus vaccine is developed by the United States. Speaking in mixed English and Filipino during Thursday’s briefing, Mr. Roque said in his “personal opinion,” the decision of President Rodrigo R. Duterte is due to a “broader national interest” amid the global pandemic. Mr. Roque, who previously served as legal counsel for the victim’s family, reiterated that he sees nothing wrong with Mr. Duterte’s decision. Meanwhile, Mr. Pemberton’s release is already being processed by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), the agency said on Thursday. “BuCor is now in coordination with the relevant agencies that are involved in the process,” it told reporters via Viber. The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Wednesday said it will deport Mr. Pemberton upon his release. A deportation order was issued in September 2015 in relation to the same incident, for which he was convicted for homicide and sentenced to six to 10 years in jail. Mr. Duterte pardoned him earlier this week after the victim’s family appealed a local court’s decision for his early release.

SC orders courts to hold bail hearings for 22 COVID vulnerable prisoners

BW FILE PHOTO

THE SUPREME Court directed trial courts to conduct bail hearings for 22 prisoners who sought release amid the coronavirus pandemic. The high court said the petitioners, considered vulnerable to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), were charged with offenses punishable by reclusion perpetua and are not entitled to bail. In a statement, the SC public information office said the decision was rendered July 28, more than three months since the petition was filed in April. Their petition for bail should undergo hearings and receive evidence within trial courts. “Thus, the Supreme Court in treating the Petition as an application for bail or recognizance as well as Petitioners’ motions for other confinement arrangements, referred the same to the trial courts, where the respective criminal cases of the petitioners remain pending, and directed them to conduct the necessary proceedings and resolve the incidents immediately,” the information office said.  “The Supreme Court also considered the proceedings before it closed and terminated,” it added. The court noted that it is not the proper forum to tackle factual issues and that the proper venue are the trial courts. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Judiciary gets lawmakers’ support for additional P6.58B in 2021

THE JUDICIARY’S appeal for an additional P6.58 billion budget in 2021 received support from legislators during Thursday’s hearing at the House of Representatives. Supreme Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez, presenting before the House committee on appropriations, said this amount is about half of the P12.34 billion turned down by the Department of Budget from their P55.88 million proposal. The judicial system has a P43.54 billion allocation under proposed national budget for next year. “Out of P12.34 billion variance, we only want to request this morning before the House for an additional P6.58 billion instead of the P12.34 billion initially included in the NEP (National Expenditure Program),” he said in mixed English and Filipino. The judiciary’s budget covers the Supreme Court and its attached lower courts, Presidential Electoral Tribunal, Court of Appeals, anti-graft court Sandiganbayan, and the Court of Tax Appeals. Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez said he recognizes the comparatively small share that the judicial branch gets. “Our judiciary receives a small portion of our budget and a small percentage of our GDP (gross domestic product) compared to our Asian neighbors. We are always lagging behind because we fail to give the judiciary what it needs,” said Assistant Deputy Speaker and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France L. Castro. She said the variance in the proposed budget is “concerning” as courts need to have “new normal operations.” “A lower budget allocation for our judiciary system would mean a slower grind of justice,” she said. Deputy Minority leader and BayanMuna Party-list Representative Carlos Isagani T. Zarate, for his part, said court services must improve because these “serve as the last refuge of the people.” Mr. Marquez also noted that the proposed P43.54 billion cannot cover the salaries of the judges-at-large who will be appointed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte under Republic Act No. 11459, which took effect law last year. The law creates 100 positions for judges who will have “no permanent salas” and may be assigned by the Supreme Court as acting or assisting judges for Regional Trial Courts “as public interest may require.” — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza

PhilHealth says missing OFW contributions ‘stolen’ by recruitment agencies

THE PHILIPPINE Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), which has been under scrutiny by legislators and a task force created by the President for alleged anomalies, again clarified that the missing contributions from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were never remitted by recruitment agencies. “(T)he stolen contributions went to the pockets of involved liaison officers (of recruitment agencies) and not to anyone in PhilHealth,” the state insurer said in a statement released on Thursday. The OFWs were allegedly given fake receipts by the liason officers, making them believe that their contributions in 2015 were transmitted to PhilHealth. The agency also said it coordinated with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in the same year and so far 16 cases against 16 recruitment agencies, including 11 liaison officers, have been endorsed for further investigation. Of the alleged P17.4 million missing funds, PhilHealth said it has verified and accounted for P1.2 million contributed by 531 workers.

Urban poor likely to increase in next year’s poverty survey

THE poverty survey, conducted every three years with the next one due in 2021, is likely to reflect a “temporary” uptick in urban poor, who were disproportionately affected by the pandemic, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said.

Mr. Chua told a Senate budget hearing that the projected range in 2021 for the poverty rate, which is known in official government statistics as poverty incidence, is 15.5% to 17.5%, indicating the possibility of a slight drop compared with the 2018 level of 16.7%.

He noted that before the pandemic, the government was projecting poverty rates to drop to about 14%.

“Our estimate right now is that it can go from 15.5 to 17.5%,” Mr. Chua said.

Poverty is measured every three years with the next assessment scheduled in 2021, he said.

Mr. Chua said the impact on the livelihood of the rural poor was not as severe.

“We might see a temporary worsening in the urban poverty where the pandemic and COVID and quarantine have affected their livelihood,” he said.

He said the government continues to address poverty by providing subsidies to low-income families.

“So hope that with the progress we’re making in the next two years we can still be on track to achieve the 14% or lower poverty incidence,” he said.

The unemployment rate rose to 17% in April during the height of the lockdown and fell to around 10% in July as lockdown measures eased, Mr. Chua said.

He added that the normal average unemployment rate is about 5% and NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) projects the recovery to bring the rate to around 6 to 8% next year.

“So long as we continue relaxing the quarantine levels, the economy actually responds very quickly,” he said.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte kept Metro Manila, Bulacan, Batangas, and the cities of Tacloban and Bacolod under general community quarantine until Sept. 30.

Iligan City is under a stricter form lockdown while the rest of the country is observing modified general community quarantine. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Provinces asked to buy rice, corn from farmers

GOVERNORS of the top rice and corn producing provinces were encouraged to purchase the staples directly from farmers in order to help prop up farmgate prices during the harvest, with the Department of Agriculture pointing to the availability of government credit for such purchases.

In a statement, Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar asked Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Iloilo, Camarines Sur, Tarlac, Negros Occidental, Maguindanao, Bukidnon, North Cotabato, and Leyte to help normalize prices of the two commodities.

Mr. Dar said the 12 provinces combined produced more than 9.74 million metric tons (MT) of palay last year, accounting for 51.8% of national output.

“Their direct procurement will significantly shore up the national average farmgate price of palay, thus helping more farmers,” Mr. Dar said.

According to Mr. Dar, provinces can apply for loans from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) for palay direct purchases and machinery procurement, including equipment for post-harvest facilities.

“We have been closely working with LANDBANK to provide accessible and affordable credit not only to farmers, fishers, and agripreneurs, but also to LGUs under the bank’s PAlay aLAY sa Magsasaka ng Lalawigan (PALAY ng Lalawigan) Program,” Mr. Dar said.

The program, which was launched in 2019, had initial funding of P10 billion and benefited farmers in Isabela, Nueva Ecija, and Camarines Sur.

Mr. Dar has directed the National Food Authority to make its warehouses available for the use of LGUs and farmers’ cooperatives and associations.

“As the country’s rice farmers start reaping this year’s main rice crop, we count on the continued support of our ‘food security czars’ in partnership with farmers nationwide. Directly buying their palay is a win-win situation — giving them reasonable income for their harvest and ensuring an adequate supply of rice for consumers in their localities,” Mr. Dar said.

During the third week of August, the Philippine Statistics Authority said the farmgate price of palay was at P18.39, while the farmgate prices of yellow and white corn grain were at P13.03 and P14.44, respectively. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Gov’t debt seen rising to 14-year high by year’s end

GENERAL GOVERNMENT (GG) debt will likely be the equivalent of 46.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of 2020, the highest level in 14 years, as the government borrows more to fund its pandemic containment measures, the Treasury said.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon told a Senate budget briefing Thursday that the projection compares with the 2019 level of 34.1% of GDP.

If realized, this debt level would be the highest since the 49.3% posted in 2006, according to Finance department data.

“In 2020, our GG debt as a percentage of GDP (will be) about 46.7% and we will be in the middle of the pack against other ASEAN countries,” she said, citing estimates for Thailand at 49.5% of GDP and Malaysia at 65.5%.

Pandemic borrowing has reversed the declining trend of GG debt-to-GDP starting in 2017.

Fitch Ratings had forecast a debt-to-GDP ratio of 47.8% this year, 49.8% in 2021 and 50.1% in 2022.

The GG debt stock was P6.65 trillion last year. Of the total, 62% or P4.11 trillion was provided by domestic creditors.

GG debt is the outstanding debt of the national government, social security institutions and local governments less the intra-sector debt holding of government securities and the bond sinking fund.

Ms. De Leon said despite the increasing debt stock, much of the budget still goes to productive spending since interest payments as a share of revenue and expenditure remain low.

“Even our interest payments were not eating up a lot of our expenditure nor of our revenue. In the 70s, it was about 30% of our revenue and even our expenditure. But now, it’s just about 12% at most so we’re saying we can still channel a lot of our revenue and a share of our expenditure to productive spending like infrastructure and social services,” Ms. De Leon said.

She said interest payments are expected to account for 19% of revenue, and 11.9% of expenditure in 2021.

She said the debt stock will taper off once the government returns to fiscal consolidation and returns to a fiscal deficit of about 3% of GDP.

The outstanding debt stock hit P9.16 trillion at the end of July, two-thirds of it domestically sourced.

The government plans to borrow P3 trillion this year to plug its budget deficit, which is projected to hit 9.6% of GDP. — Beatrice M. Laforga

After WFH scramble, companies seen refocusing on cybersecurity to ensure business continuity

CYBERSECURITY is increasingly being viewed by C-level executives as a means of ensuring business continuity during the pandemic, after the initial rush to ensure that systems were robust enough to accommodate work-from-home (WFH) arrangements, Unisys Corp. said.

“While there is a need to quickly adapt to a work-from-home strategy, there is this need to actually make sure that the operations are running as well,” Unisys Asia Director of Security Business Development Daphne Chee said in an online interview Wednesday.

Unisys has been seeing increased interest from banks and critical infrastructure companies, she said.

But while Philippine organizations have demonstrated increased interest in cybersecurity, the attention has not always translated to the adoption of cybersecurity solutions.

“There’s a lot of diversion of funds and attention to the mitigation and management of this crisis and therefore that momentum had to slow down a little. But the attention is still there,” Ms. Chee said.

Cybersecurity in developing countries like the Philippines is not as high a priority as in other countries, Unisys Asia Pacific Director of Security Services Ashwin Pal said.

Such issues can be addressed with well-tested business continuity plans that cover even unlikely events, an informed workforce, and cybersecurity technology.

“Corporates need to understand that the threat landscape has changed. What’s actually happening now is you’ve got two forces in play that are actually not in our favor,” he said.

As more employees work from home, network security becomes less secure and more hackers are trying to take advantage of at-risk organizations through phishing e-mails.

Organizational vulnerabilities come from both the personal devices of employees and their behavior as they work from home.

With office laptops in short supply, employees could end up using personal devices, including smart phones.

“You’ve got all these smart devices and god knows what they’re doing and they’re now connected to that same network as well which is now connecting back to your corporate network. All of those risks are flying back to the corporate network,” he said.

Mr. Pal said when work-from-home operations were organized, “Frankly, security went by the wayside.” He added that organizations are now starting to secure data and educate employees as they plan for longer-term home-based work. — Jenina P. Ibañez

NEDA to work with stakeholders more closely to hit sustainable dev’t goals

THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said it hopes to work more closely with stakeholders in achieving the Philippines’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

It said in a statement Thursday that it organized a chamber for both government and non-government SDG stakeholders to more efficiently deploy resources.

“This chamber will serve as a platform for better resource management and coordination for the achievement of the SDGs by ensuring complementarity and support between government and non-government actors,” NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon was quoted as saying.

The plan for the chamber was presented before the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s (DBCC) sub-committee on SDGs during its organizational meeting on Aug. 27.

NEDA said the chamber will host pledging sessions to aid in the achievement of the SDGs.

“With the disruptions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to further intensify the implementation of strategies to ensure the attainment of the SDGs. We have to catch up and prioritize what needs to be done amid these challenges,” Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said. 

NEDA is seeking to include local governments, academic institutions, business groups, trade unions, youth organizations, other SDG-related institutions and vulnerable communities in the chamber.

It said some representatives from the United Nations will also be a part of the chamber.

NEDA said it will release a shortlist of qualified members within 45 days from issuing the call for membership. Membership is subject to review every year.

In December, the DBCC sub-committee on SDGs was created to assist the government in aligning its plans and projects with these development targets.

An SDG website was also launched in April 2019 to track the country’s progress.

The SDGs serve as a blueprint for achieving 17 goals set to address poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice, among others. — Beatrice M. Laforga

Privacy Commission warns contact tracers against collecting unnecessary information

THE National Privacy Commission (NPC) said in a statement that contact-tracing organizations must not collect unnecessary information in their forms, such as signatures.

In a statement Thursday, an NPC lawyer, Stephen John Duma of the commission’s Compliance and Monitoring office, said: “In every aspect of the data processing cycle, activities must observe the basic principles of transparency, legitimate purpose and proportionality.”

The commission said it has been receiving reports about private and public organizations collecting signatures and personal data that it considers unnecessary for contact tracing.

The NPC said organizations’ data protection officers must provide clear and accessible privacy notices to inform people about the collection and storage of their personal data. The privacy notices must also include the legal basis of the collection and the parties to whom the data will be given.

“Detailed information on the relevant personal data flows must be provided. You should have a clear way of employing these activities and show in your privacy notices that they have adequate organizational, physical and technical capacity to protect data from collection to disposal,” Mr. Duma said.

The NPC said it can give businesses guidance on creating policies that will ensure data privacy.

In April, the commission said that data collection mobile apps should collect the minimum data necessary for contact tracing. — Jenina P. Ibañez

ADB approves $500-million standby financing for local calamities

THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it approved Thursday a $500-million (P24.3 billion) standby line providing the Philippines quick access to emergency funds in the event of calamities.

The bank said access to the funds under the Disaster Resilience Improvement Program is triggered by a state of calamity.

The ADB said the Philippines is disaster-prone, costing its economy between 0.7% and 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) every year. This includes the estimated P43.5 billion in potential revenue lost due to earthquakes and P133 billion from typhoons.

“The Philippines has been hit by several major disasters in recent years, including Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in 2013, the Taal Volcano eruption in January 2020, and the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic,” ADB Vice-President Ahmed M. Saeed was quoted as saying.

“This new contingent disaster financing instrument will help the government manage fiscal risks posed by those shocks and lessen the economic and social impacts on people’s livelihoods and the country’s economy,” Mr. Saeed added.

Aside from the immediate assistance, the ADB said the program can also help ease financial planning by making available a predictable source of funds for its post-disaster spending.

Benita Ainabe, financial sector specialist for Southeast Asia at the ADB, said the program will support the government’s policy reforms ensuring quick access to financing in case of disasters, and help the country improve its overall response to disasters and pandemics.

The bank said the program will likewise support a pilot disaster insurance system to be implemented in selected cities to upgrade their fiscal resilience. It said the scheme will be the first in Southeast Asia.

The ADB supports pending legislation that will create a new Department of Disaster Resilience, merging the offices of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and the Office of Civil Defense, it said.

The proposed law is expected to expedite disaster response by minimizing bureaucracy.

It also supports reforms requiring local governments to include climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in their comprehensive development plans.

It will also help them create better medium-term plans for pandemic preparedness, it said.

“Nearly three-fourths of the country’s population are vulnerable to multiple natural hazards, and such disasters worsen poverty in typhoon-prone provinces along the country’s eastern seaboard,” it said.

Including the recently-approved facility, the ADB has lent the Philippines $3.834 billion so far this year, as the bank ramps up its support for the government’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic containment effort.

In July, the bank said it will extend a total of $4.2 billion in financing to the Philippines this year, its biggest annual commitment to the country so far. The previous record was $2.5 billion in 2019.

Next year, ADB’s lending program for the Philippines was set at $4.118 billion, plus a standby loan of $1 billion for the Bataan-Cavite Bridge project.

The government plans to borrow P3 trillion overall this year to plug its budget deficit, which is expected to hit 9.6% of GDP.

As of the end of August, the government has secured $8.83 billion in loans and grants from external sources for pandemic-related spending. — Beatrice M. Laforga

Vietnam backs US role in South China Sea, rebuffing Beijing

SOUTHEAST ASIAN countries want the US to play a role in maintaining peace in the South China Sea, Vietnam said, pushing back against Beijing’s comments that American forces were destablizing the region.

“We welcome the US’s constructive and responsive contributions to Asean’s efforts to maintaining the peace, stability and developments in the South China Sea,” Vietnam Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said Thursday during a virtual summit between representatives from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. Vietnam holds the bloc’s rotating chairmanship.

Southeast Asian countries were open to opportunities for practical cooperation with the US in the region, Minh said. Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia have been locked in territorial disputes with China that have impacted their ability to extract fish, oil and gas from offshore areas.

At a virtual summit a day earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Southeast Asian foreign ministers that the US was intervening in territorial disputes and strengthening its military deployment in the contested area “out of its own political purposes.” He called the US “the biggest driver of militarization of the South China Sea,” according to statements posted by China’s Foreign Ministry.

The US has become “the most dangerous factor that damages the peace in the South China Sea,” Wang said, reiterating China’s position that disputes should be solved by regional countries. “Peace and stability are China’s greatest strategic interest in the South China Sea, which are also the common aspiration of Asean countries,” he said.

Tensions in the South China Sea have risen in the past few months as the US and China spar on everything from democracy in Hong Kong to data security over popular Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat. In July, the US explicitly rejected China’s expansive maritime claims in the region for the first time, and sent aircraft carriers to the waters to conduct military exercises.

China last month fired missiles into the South China Sea, a move that underscored the growing cost of any armed conflict in the region. The missiles showed China’s ability to strike out at US bases and aircraft carriers, the major sources of American power projection in the region.

At a separate meeting Wednesday, Pompeo joined several Asean countries in raising concerns over the China’s actions in the South China Sea, according to a State Department statement. He reiterated that the US regarded Beijing’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea as unlawful according to a 2016 international tribunal ruling that China regards as illegitimate because it opted out of dispute settlement provisions when it signed up for United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“We express serious concern over ongoing developments on the ground including serious incidents, continued militarization and activities that infringe on the lawful rights of small countries, run counter to international law,” Minh, the Vietnamese minister, said, citing the 1982 UN Convention for the Law of the Sea. “These have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and undermined peace, security and rule of law in the region.”

On Wednesday, Wang rejected the idea that China claims all waters within the nine-dash line as its territorial sea, calling it a “distortion” of China’s stance. He insisted China’s claim of islands in the South China Sea has “abundant historic and legal basis.”

He also argued that Chinese construction on reefs and islets was meant to improve living conditions and provide “public good” for the region. “In the face of a non-regional country’s military pressure, of course we have the right to protect our own sovereignty,” he said.

The US said it also joined several countries in raising concerns over the imposition of sweeping national security legislation on Hong Kong, the arrests of pro-democracy students, the yearlong postponement of elections and disqualification of pro-democracy electoral candidates.

In response, Wang said the East Asia Summit had “never been a venue for interfering into other countries’ internal affairs, and should not become a stage to attack other countries’ political system.” — Bloomberg

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