The Spratly Islands are a group of more than 700 islands, islets, reefs, atolls, and cays in the West Philippine Sea. The archipelago lies off the coasts of our dearest motherland, the Philippines, of Malaysia, and some part to Vietnam. But there is a territorial dispute over the ownership of not all, some of the Spratly Islands. The People's Republic of China, Republic of China (Taiwan), Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines are the states who stake claims to these islands.
The Philippines made their first claim in the area, which they refer to as Kalayan islands in 1975. The Philippines history over this islands began in May 1956 when a private Philippine expedition surveyed and occupied some of the islands, which are then uninhabited. Other claimants such as China, Taiwan, and Brunei based their claims over some documents. What are your views over this popular issue?
If our country has this history over these islands since 1956, well I think we owned it. But since spratly islands are also surrounded by the other countries, we can't claim it as ours because they are also interested in these islands. In my own point of view, spratly islands are better to be divided for Philippines, China, Taiwan, Brunei to avoid conflicts regarding it.
ReplyDeleteWe might consider the fact that the Philippines has the right to consider Spratly Islands its property, due to the fact that we had made the first claim. Though I think that the ones who really have the right to claim between these islands are the countries who are surrounding it: The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam. These countries are the ones closest to the islands, so I therefore think that it is right and just for the islands' proprietorship to be equally shared between these countries.
ReplyDeletePhilippines made the first claim on this. So, i think, we, Filipinos own the Spratly Islands. Yet some other countries are occupying the island but for me, if the Philippines will own this, there is really a big possibility that our country will progress.
ReplyDeleteI think Philippines has the rights to claim Spratly Islands because we are the nearest to it. Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam can also have their fair share of Spratly because they are near to the island too. But China can't have some of Spratly Islands.
ReplyDeleteI think the Spratly Islands belongs to no one, not until the dispute between those countries who claimed the ownership will be cleared.
ReplyDeleteEven if the Philippines made their first claim in the area, it doesn't mean that the Spratly Islands belongs to our country. It is not base on WHO claimed first but WHERE the Islands rightfully belongs.
So, to avoid more conflict, I think the solution might be viable if all the claimants could mutually agree to divide equally the ownership of these islands.
Spratly islands is of of the controversial topics that started long ago until now. There are many countries claimed that they owned these islands.
ReplyDeletePhilippines,People's Republic of China (Taiwan),Brunei,Malaysia and Vietnam are fighting for sole ownership of these area.
The only way to solve the conflict is to divide the islands.
Based on the territorial rules followed by our country, Philippines gets Spratly. It is in our countries area of responsibility, so its ours. But I believe that there is a best way to solve this conflict, and that is to split the islands among the countries who are claiming it. That way, everyone gets a piece of it.
ReplyDelete=) =) =)
ReplyDeleteThe Spratlys is well within the territorial jurisdiction of the Republic of the Philippines. Any 5th grader looking at the map will see.. and
Philippines is the nearest sovereign state to the islands. and we have staked our claim repeatedly before the community of nations.. China and other countries are just a big bully.
In my own opinion, it's better that no one will own this Spratly Island so that no conflict within the different places and to be fair enough to each other. We all know that if someone will own this island it surely help their country more successful and improve country, and that is one of the reason why they keep on claiming that they should own this island...It's been a long time that no one own Spratly Island so lets just live like that...lets pretend that SPRATLY ISLAND is not EXISTING just like what we know nothing, before we knew this Island...
ReplyDeleteIt's just my own opinion..THANK YOU! MABUHAY! :D
The Spratly Island is one of the 7,107 island of the Philippines. I'm aware of this issue especially between China and Philippines. I don't know what they want from that island, maybe because of the natural resources that can be seen there.
ReplyDeleteOne of the news caster here in the Philippines said that the government can give it nalang to the Chinese People but if we will give it, parang we are telling the China that they can conquer us na.
This issue is very old na. And this month, the issue has been raised again by the China. I think they are angry of us. hahaha!
But we should not give this island to the China. Why? Because if we will give this, parang we are telling na we don't have a dignity. We should protect our country. But remember that we should not fight with guns and bombs, because we will lose but if the katipuneros fought for our country and they won. Why we can't?
i think Spratly Islands should be better not exist, because it will just ruin our good relations with other country's. Since we cannot ignore the fact that this islands are now the reason why there are rivalry among Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam. For me it's better to divide it than to take it as a whole, so that our good relation with other country's will increase, no more grudges, and no more war. For me "Peace is more important than winning".
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I would like to know why this Spratly Island is so important. I don't see anything significant about it. The only thing I see is that this Island can cause possible conflicts between neighboring countries. The more we try to argue the ownership of this island, the more we expose ourselves to threats. I say leave it be and walk away. We don't want to be triggering World War 3, do we?
ReplyDeleteWhy are the other countries starting to have a claim with the Spratly Island? Is there something on these Island that they want? Spratly Island should rightfully be ours since it has been part of our history, the first one to have a claim on these island. Hopefully the government would do something about this and would try to resolve this problem in a peaceful way of course so that no other conflict would arise between the Philippines and the other countries...
ReplyDeleteSpartly is rich fishing grounds and initial surveys indicate the islands may contain significant reserves of oil and natural gas that is why it is important for our country I think. And beside as all say we are the one who claim it first. So I think we have just the right to fight for it.
ReplyDeleteSPRATLY: "initial surveys indicate the islands may contain significant reserves of oil and natural gas"
ReplyDeleteMy view:
Its always hard to verify who did what first and to talk about the issue on the Spratly islands many would surely like to claim it because of what a country can possibly obtain from it (fishing grounds, oil, natural gas).
In the past fights with siblings quarreling over something has never been easy, either 1 would have to give up or someone of higher authority will decide with his judgment.
But if we were truly the ones who inhabited it first they our government should hold it's claim, and hold it hard. Besides, i think we need it more than the others especially china, we're poor.. haha
No one should claim the Spratly islands so that there will be no conflicts. XD
ReplyDeleteThis issue had never been resolve; it had been already a countless years. Why not divide the islands so the countries claim for it will have an even share. May peace prevail at the end of this conflict, hoping the bigger nation will not abuse the smaller ones!!
ReplyDeleteChina is not fair.The Spratly Islands belong to the phils!China should not claim what is not theirs!.Just by looking at maps we can see that the islands are in the territory of the phils!that concludes that the Spratly Islands belong to the phils!
ReplyDeleteI think Spratly islands belongs to Philippines because as we can see in the map, the island is located in Philippine territory. Therefore, the other country has no right to claim that it's theirs. Claiming of Spratly islands through documents does not really prove that what was written is true. As I observe most of the time docs are fakes.
ReplyDeletei don't know much about the situation but what i know is China wants to claim a land that is so far away from their main land. and if we just allow China to claim these islands, it will really give a big problem for our fellow countrymen who are living there. honestly, if there is not a single disadvantage for the Filipinos regarding the claim of China, it is really okay for me for them to claim the islands. also, the Philippines is known for its 7,107 islands, if we let China get what they want, what will happen to our 7,107 islands? it will just be 7,100 islands. that is just not right for them to do that, it's like taking a piece of the Filipino's pride. that is how i'll feel, because i am very proud of our archipelago, especially the number of islands we have.
ReplyDeleteI think that they should help each other to make use of all the resources in Spratly. We all know that China is a powerful country and it is capable of winning the war against the Philippines,in case there will be.
ReplyDeleteI think the best way to solve this conflict is Philippines should cooperate with China and other country to utilize the wealth of Spratly.
kung di pa rin masolve ung conflict. guera nalang kung kaya ng Air Force ng Philippines labanan ung Army ng China. Wala nga missile ung Philippines.ahahahah. Bka ung Philippines ay maging libya, ginera ng USA. umayaw si kadafi. kahihiyan yun.
kung maging atin man ang spratly. Di naman capable ung phils bigyan ng enough fund para bumili ng mga devices and etc para mapakinabangan ung spratly, kaya mas mabubuti pa mkipagsosyo nalang ung phils sa china kung ano man pwede pakinabangan.
Actually as I was trying to comprehend what I have read to broaden my idea about the issue on the Spratly Islands, the more I was confused, each country that claims the ownership of the said Islands says that they have the pertinent documents to support their claim, I don't know if those peace of paper really is recognized by the agencies concerned on this matter of claims. Every country that claims the ownership of the Spratly islands has their own capability to protect on what they believed but sadly and unfortunately for US Filipinos we can only put nipa huts and barong-barongs as our fortress, we can not question our soldier's moral to fight for our country for it is already in our history but War is not the solution, I still go for Diplomacy if you can include hidden diplomacy...
ReplyDeleteHmm. The dispute over Spratly Island. Interesting.. We own Spratly islands, thats all. Thank you. Haha. Kidding! :)
ReplyDeleteOk. It is based on our 1987 Philippine Constitution, Article 1, section 1 which speaks about our National Territory. It is stated in Article 1, sec. 1 that also speaks about the territorial sea, that the Philippines owns or has the right to claim within 12 nautical miles from our land territory. From what I have read, the Spratly Island falls or is located within the 12 nautical miles even though it is in the south china sea and between the Philippines and Vietnam. Also, being the first one to claim, I hope the other countries would respect that and I'm hoping that they would stop claiming it for they are just adding conflicts or problems between countries. I think they are only after the reefs, corals and whatever riches Spratly Island has to offer. Spratly has oil, which the whole world is in need and in recession of, thats why the countries around it, like China and Vietnam, are also claiming it. Still, it is located nearest to the Philippines. We have more rights in claiming it than them. :)
KUHA MO??!! (taray look sa China)
@Tan, entraw pa el Brunei, Malaysia, pati Vietnam.. Porke todo yalang ka China China? hahaha ara kay chino bo. Ara gane kay powerful el China, diila ya kel dayun? Kosana XD
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, Spratly Island belongs to the Philippines. okay?
Actually, I’m really confused about this issue. There are many countries claiming these islands, but according to your given information sir the Philippines had its first claim to the area. And I think if the spratly islands will be owned by china they will just waste the natural resources of it, and they are already a rich country. On the other hand, if the spratly islands will stay in the hand of Philippines they can conserve its natural resources.
ReplyDeletewell well well. . . .d amun el spratly islands MARVIN TAN! xD hehe. joke lang. . as far as i know. parang willing ang UK na pautangin ang pilipinas for equipments para sa exploration nang oil sa spratly islands, it doesnt mean naman na pag powerful yung isang country they will always win.. war ang iniiwasan nang pilipinas kasi alam nilang hnd nila kaya if ever na magdeclare ang China . hehe,, amin parin ang Spratlies!!! gahaman kayo! hehe \m/
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ReplyDeleteAll the countries around the Spratly's group of Island are interested about these islands because of the underwater oil deposit found here...If there were no oil here it would be another nuclear or missile testing wasteland...
ReplyDeleteThe battle about the Spratly's group of islands seems not that alarming for me, since every country that owns these islands claims their own documents, then let legal actions be acted.
ReplyDeleteFirst come, first served. That's how things should be. The Filipino's were the first one to claim that the Islands belong to the Philippines. And they were right since it is closest to the Philippines than to any of the other claimants. And for China... damn. The Islands are 500 something kilometers far from the shores of China. So how in the right mind will they claim that the islands belong to them? War na yan. Lahat ng guard ipa sali, mga kalbo na naglalakad galing fisheries papunta sa mindpro, ipasali rin. Brgy. tanod.. lahat na. Di man rin tatagal mga armas nila, made in China eh.
ReplyDeleteThat each and every one of the countries end their dispute and abide the United Nation's law of the sea without any questions asked.
ReplyDeleteIn my own opinion, I would say that legitimate studies should be made in order to clarify the ownership of the said group of islets but there lies a little problem over here. How far can you go legally with documents? Accordingly, epic ancient documents presented were too naive to be used as evidence here so I think the case should go to the relevance of the country considering territorial distance and other physical geological things. And of course the Philippines absolutely can't go into a fight against China.
ReplyDeleteSince the Spratly Islands are the closest to the philippines and we have claimed it first, then the Spratly Islands are rightfully ours. Since It is hard for us to show proof due to other countries having their documents, I suggest its best to divide the resources of the Spratly Islands so that everyone can have their share.
ReplyDeleteI think the Philippines dominantly owns Spratly Islands. We claimed those islands first. But then other countries have their own claims to prove that the islands belong to them. So if for some reason the Philippines can't claim it, the alternative solution would be to divide the islands equally amongst the involved countries. Either way, this dispute must end up peacefully and not result into a war.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the Philippines really owns the spratly island base on the geographical location of it and i've read that way back years ago spratly was owned by no one (Res nullius), so after WWII the Philippines posted troops in some island there.
ReplyDeleteBut many critics where saying that this claim of the Phil. over spratly is illegal,just because of no one owns it.
All countries made claims of their own, as well.
But, I also read that if China will conquer our country they will have the right to own the spratly islands and we can see that we can't win a fight against The China republic, They already warned america not to join this issue. I wish that this problem will be resolved without using arms.
Gahaamaaaaan na tlga mga tao ngayon! Alam na nasa atin na ang spratly aagawin pa tlga, Ang dami na nila kinuha satin pati ba nmn ang spratly!?hahahaha! di porket isa silang malaking country ay pwedi na silang umasta na parang pwedi nila gawin lahat ng gusto nila. We must stand up to fight our rights! hahaha.
Naaah! Pero wag din mag gera kasi . . .
Isang nuclear missile lang tayo! hahahaha! XD
TENTENENEN!! basta maskin chene kita classmate chino ! di atun lang syempre el spratly island! bonamente bo marvin !! ahahahaha. If we look at the geographical map , we notice that spratly island is near located at the Philippines than the china, since Philippines is first to claim this islands the china has no right to get it all over and over again! We cannot consider the fact that even though the China is Big country than the Philippines they can now do everything they want. In political science, People is Free but the fact is remain the fact that we have a limitations. That's how this fact regarding the Spratly islands!!This is ours ! woooooooooo! Mabuhay ang Sambayanang Pilipino !!! :DDD
ReplyDeleteWow, bongga man gat se Spratly islands! Haba ng hair mo te! XDD
ReplyDelete______
Actually, truth is, I'm not very sure if Philippines has the right to claim Spratly Islands simply because of its geographical proximity. Based from what I've read somewhere sa net, there is no international law na nagsasabing magagamit na rason ang geographical proximity sa pagclaclaim ng Spratly. Kasi if we will base it sa proximity, then does that mean na yung mga isolated islands sa Sulu sea ay ibibigay natin sa Borneo dahil mas malapit ito doon?
Kaya confused talaga ako ngayon. But one thing I'm sure of is, "WALANG RIGHT ANG CHINA NA ICLAIM ANG SPRATLY."
I read their claims and for me, it's actually not clearly defined. Super di ko gets ang historical reasons nila. .____.
Anyway, I think the best way to solve this issue is to divide Spratly Islands to its surrounding countries. Mas better si ansina kasi in that way, ya pwede todo man benefit, iwas pa kita na gulo.
Though I highly doubt China will agree to this kasi they are claiming the entire Spratly Islands unlike others na portion2 lang. If ever man they will hold a war against us, nahhh, good luck ya lang kunatun. Man migrate ya yo. :))))))
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ReplyDeleteThe dispute against the Spratly Islands are negotiable, or can be fixed with correct and justifiable diplomacy. Countries such as China, Vietnam, Brunei Malaysia, and the Philippines should fixed this issue without violence. I had heard news of some of these countries are sending warships or ship vessels that roam and guard the Islands. May this issue not be the start of a dispute among these countries as well.
ReplyDeleteThe Spratly Island was surrounded by many countries. We all know that there are many countries claiming these islands. The Philippines is nearest from that Island it is 80miles from the Island unlike with the china, 250 miles away from the island. We are nearest to the Spratly Islands but it doesn't mean that the Spratly Islands belongs to our country. In my own opinion, Spratly islands are better to be divided for countries who want to claim this island to avoid conflicts between the Philippines and the other countries. :)
ReplyDeleteFor me, it's better to have no one owns the Spratly Island. It'll just lead countries near on it on arguing on each other which may lead to WAR.
ReplyDeleteIt's better not to touch this island because if someone does, they'll just destroy and take it's nature for their own benefits.
I guess Spratly island should be owned by our country, because in our history, Philippines first claimed this islands and our country is much closer than the other countries who are desperate to claim it.
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