The Philippines base their claims of sovereignty over the Spratlys on the issues of Res nullius and geography.

The Philippines contend their claim was Res nulli us as there was no effective sovereignty over the islands until the 1930s when F rance and then Japan acquired the islands. When Japan renounced their sovereignt y over the islands according to the San Francisco Treaty, there was a relinquish ment of the right to the islands without any special beneficiary. Therefore, arg ue the Philippines, the islands became Res nullius and available for annexation. An 1801 map of the East Indies Isles which shows the placement of the Spratly is lands. Most of the names have changed since then. In 1956, a private Filipino citizen, Tomas Cloma, unilaterally declared a state on 53 features in the South China Sea, calling it "Freedomland". As the Republic of China moved to occupy the main island in response, Cloma sold his claim to t he Philippine government, which annexed (de jure) the islands in 1978, calling t hem Kalayaan. On June 11, 1978, President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines is sued Presidential decree No. 1596, declaring the Spratly Islands (referred to th erein as the Kalayaan Island Group) as Philippine territory.[27] The Philippine claim to Kalayaan on a geographical basis can be summarized using the assertion that Kalayaan is distinct from other island groups in the South C hina Sea, because of the size of the biggest island in the Kalayaan group.[citat ion needed] A second argument used by the Philippines regarding their geographic al claim over the Spratlys is that all the islands claimed by the Philippines li e within its 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone according to the 1982 United Natio ns Convention on the Law of the Sea. This argument still requires that the islan ds were res nullius, though.[28] The Philippines also argue, under maritime law that the People's Republic of China can not extend its baseline claims to the Sp ratlys because the PRC is not an archipelagic state.

Point by point, the Philippines rebuffed China on Monday, Ju MANILA, Philippines ly 15, after the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the Philippines' Department of Fo reign Affairs (DFA) lied in Belgium about the West Philippine Sea (South China S ea) dispute. In a press conference, DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez presented 8 facts to belie t he statement made by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying last Friday , July 12. Hernandez took exception to this statement by Hua: The Philippines' claim that it had exhausted almost all political and diplomatic avenues for a peaceful settlem ent of the dispute is completely not true. Hua was referring to a speech by Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario in Brussels, Belgium, last July 9, about the maritime dispute between the Phili ppines and China. In turn, Hernandez said on Monday, The Chinese statement is baseless. He also blas ted China s rigid position that goes: Tanggapin ninyo na amin ang buong South China S ea bago tayo mag-usap. (First accept that the whole South China Sea is ours befor e we start talking.) 8 points vs China For the record, Hernandez said, we wish to present the facts as follows:

1. As we had previously stated on numerous occasions, the Philippines and China h ave been exchanging views on these disputes in attempts to achieve negotiated so lutions since the first Philippines-China Bilateral Consultations on the South C

hina Sea Issue were held in August 1995. However, despite more than 17 years of consultations, no progress has been made. 2. Since intrusions in the Bajo de Masinloc started in April 2012 alone, we have had nearly 50 consultations with China. 3. On maritime talks indicated by China in the ASEAN meetings in Brunei, we clari fy that, in fact, the Philippines invited China to hold informal talks. This was held early last year, including a two-day session in Manila. Subsequent plans t o meet further were overtaken by continuing intrusions by China, especially in B ajo de Masinloc since April last year. 4. We had all along been indicating publicly our 3-track approach of diplomatic, political, and legal tracks, including arbitration. 5. Prior to our filing of the arbitration case, in contradiction with China s decla ration in the ASEAN meetings in Brunei that we did not signal a possible Philipp ine arbitration track, we did invite China to join us in bringing the issue to a dispute settlement mechanism to resolve the issue on a long-term basis. This wa s officially communicated through a note verbale dated April 26, 2012. In its of ficial response to our note verbale, China stated that our proposal was a 'none ground' issue and it urged the Philippines 'to refrain from any infringement on China s territorial sovereignty.' 6. Prior in ITLOS. l Rosario ring this io met at Secretary to this, on various occasions, we had verbally invited China to join us In fact, during the very first official visit of Secretary Albert F de to China in July 2011, he proposed to Chinese top leaders to jointly b issue to ITLOS for adjudication. During the visit, Secretary Del Rosar length with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi who subsequently brought the to meet with then Vice President Xi Jinping.

7. Secretary Albert F del Rosario visited Beijing 3 times with an invitation for the Chinese Foreign Minister to visit Manila for consultations. Up to now, we ar e awaiting a favorable response to our renewed invitations. 8. In all of these dialogues, China has consistently maintained its hard line pos ition of indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea, including the West Phi lippine Sea, based on historical facts. The Chinese unequivocal message: Tanggap in ninyo na amin ang buong South China Sea bago tayo mag-usap. It has, therefore , become impossible to continue bilateral discussions on disputes in the West Ph ilippine Sea with China on the basis of this rigid position. This led us to fina lly resort to arbitration under Annex VII of the UNCLOS. 'Peaceful' move but... Hernandez added the Philippines remains steadfast in peacefully resolving the disp ute before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). The arbitr al tribunal to settle the dispute is now in place, he noted. China, however, has rejected the proceedings initiated by the Philippines. We moreover reiterate that the Philippines adheres to the agreement reached betwe en the leaders of the Philippines and China in 2011 not to let the maritime dispu tes affect the broader picture of friendship and cooperation between the two cou ntries, Hernandez said. The Philippines and China remain caught in a decades-long dispute over portions of the West Philippine Sea. To help settle the issue, Del Rosario has invited Chinese Foreign Minister Wang

Yi to visit the Philippines. This was after reportedly testy exchanges between the m in the recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) forum in Brunei. Territorial disputes also drive a wedge between China and other members of the A SEAN Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam