The Philippines

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

@my_spratly Thus it is fair to say that it should rightfully belong to the Philippines, because by res nullius nobody was owning at the time

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

@my_spratly Indeed. It was 5 yrs after this Treaty that anyone made claim to the islands and the claimant was Tomas Cloma.

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

@my_spratly If you only consider point markers then it evidently isn't. Look at the whole reef. http://t.co/OtbD8i1O

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

Thus it would be unfair to just claim sovereignty of it after Malaysia has already spent much money and effort on it.

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

Swallow Reef has been transformed into an island by Malaysia, and taking their efforts as our own would be international theft.

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

thus it would be unwise to claim at this juncture.

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

Ardasier Reef is actually within our claim boundary, but it is currently being controlled by Malaysian troops

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

In any case, we are not claiming Ardasier Reef and Swallow Reef in an effort to maintain diplomatic relations.

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

It seems like China is trending. This must be the reason why.

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

@my_spratly Are you asking ME to claim more islands? Isn't that sort of making the situation worse for you? (and other countries?)

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

This was later passed to the Philippine government, thus sovereignty of the Spratlys should belong to the Philippines juridically.

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

@my_spratly They were declared as part of Freedomland by Tomas Cloma, who occupied it whilst there was no effective sovereignty

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

Thus there is no reason to believe that China has sovereignty over the islands due to post-WWII agreements.

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

However, the Treaty in question (San Francisco Treaty) did not designate the Spratlys as an island cluster to be returned to China.

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

There is another point I'd like to raise. China has mentioned that post-WWI arrangements have given sovereignty of the islands back to them.

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

@my_spratly If proximity is the only consideration in the designation of sovereignty, then there would be no need for this conference.

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

We still maintain that Kalayaan is part of the Philippines.

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

@my_spratly However, the evaluation of Commodore Reef is still effective.

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

@my_spratly This means that we do not not want it, otherwise we wouldn't still try to extend our EEZ claim.

[The Philippines @ph_spratly]

@my_spratly Indeed, but Philippines’ Presidential Decree 1596 is still pushing for Commodore Reef to be included in our EEZ.