Golez: I favor this but PCG & BFAR must patrol: Duterte to declare lagoon in Scarborough off limits to fishermen.

Golez: I favor President Duterte's intent to declare Scarborough lagoon off limits to all fishermen and this should be enforced through the presence in the lagoon of Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources patrol ships to make sure the executive order is complied with. A unilateral Philippine action is the best approach without regard for China's reaction. The Philippines owns Scarborough Shoal per Republic Act 9522 which provides: 

"Section 2. The baseline in the following areas over which the Philippines likewise exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction shall be determined as "Regime of Islands" under the Republic of the Philippines consistent with Article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS):

"a) The Kalayaan Island Group as constituted under Presidential Decree No. 1596; and

"b) Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal."

I was the Chairman of the Technical Working Group of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs that drafted the bill.