In a symbolic gesture to spread the message that Filipinos may remain free to tuna where international law permits, organizers released orange lighthouses with the word” Atin Ito.”
They were banding together to combat a menace to for freedom. Since Beijing seized the interior lake from Manila in 2012, it has been under Chinese control. It is teeming with abundant marine life.
In order to avoid a Chinese-style conflict, fewer and fewer Filipino anglers have ventured out to Scarborough Shoal.
The prized reef was declared by international arbitration to be a popular fishing ground for claimant-states including China, Vietnam, and the Philippines ‘ handmade fishermen.
Despite an global decision invalidating China’s states and the UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea designating a nation’s sea areas, including the belt of water, a nation can claim based on its distance from its coast, China asserts that it has undisputed sovereignty over a large portion of the South China Sea, including Scarborough Shoal.