Filipinos called to rally behind UN court decision July 12 on Spratlys

 By Tambi Wycoco

iiNNS

 

NEW YORK  – Filipinos across many major cities across the United States and the world are enjoined to stage rallies in support of the impending decision of the United Nations’ Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on the case filed by the Philippines against China concerning the latter’s actions in the South China Sea, also known as the West Philippine Sea.

Many media and other analysts around the world have predicted The Hague Court’s decision would favor the Philippines.

The Court announced more than a week ago that it would make public its decision on July 12, at 11:00 a.m. local time (Central European Summer Time).  The call to rallies was issued by the core group of leaders of the U.S. Filipinos for Good Governance, Inc. (formerly U.S. Pinoys for Good Governance), whose main leader is philanthropist Loida Nicolas-Lewis.

The rallies called for by the USF4GG are scheduled in major cities across the United States, Canada and across the globe.  In the U.S., the rallies have been called for New York,  NY; Washington, DC; San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA; Chicago, IL; and Houston, TX.  In Canada they’re set for Toronto and Vancouver.  Across the seas, rallies will take place in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) of Saipan and Tinian.  And so also in Guam and in Manila, Philippines.

Rallies are also being arranged and organized in London, Tokyo and Milan.   Other cities are to be announced later.

The rallies will be launched simultaneously at 12:00 noon of Tuesday, July 12, 2016, in New York, across from the grounds of the United Nations Headquarters on First Avenue in Manhattan, and in Washington, DC, by which time seven hours would have elapsed since the U.N. court in The Hague would have announced its decision.

A source from the core group said that the rallies would call for China to abide by the U.N. Permanent Court of Arbitration’s decision.

 

(The featured photo by Juliet Payabyab is a rally against the incursion of China into the West Philippine Sea in 2015 on 5th Avenue by members of the group US Pinoys for Good Governance)