'Evident bad faith': NHCP rejects claims Batanes part of China

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) on Friday rejected claims of China's supposed sovereignty over Batanes, calling these baseless and unsupported by historical evidence.

In a statement, the commission said such claims "have no rational basis in substantive research and operate from evident bad faith."

"Knowledge can only be true if grounded on good faith. No amount of fabrication will erase the truths of the past," said the NHCP, the national agency mandated with promoting the country's history and preserving its cultural heritage.

The NHCP called out the supposed unanimous conclusion from an academic symposium at Jinan University in China on June 30, wherein participants reportedly asserted that Batanes is a natural geographic extension of Taiwan, thus China should exercise sovereignty over the Philippines' northernmost province.

According to the NHCP, however, satellite and oceanographic data show a continuous continental shelf extending from Northern Luzon through the Babuyan and Batanes islands before reaching parts of Taiwan, thus the Philippines "claims a greater right" over these territories.

It likewise dismissed assertions that Batanes was under the jurisdiction of Taiwan Prefecture during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Citing historical records, including the accounts of British explorer William Dampier in 1687, the NHCP said there is no evidence of Chinese governance over the islands. Instead, the NHCP said, the Ivatan people lived in organized communities and maintained trade with other maritime societies.

The Spanish colonial government, the NHCP added, formally incorporated Batanes into Cagayan province in 1783, and that Philippine governments have exercised continuous sovereignty over the islands since then.

Batanes was represented in the Malolos Congress during the First Philippine Republic and has remained part of succeeding Philippine governments, the NHCP said.

The NHCP likewise brushed aside claims that Batanes should have been returned by Japan to China after World War II.

"Japan cannot give to China what clearly belongs to the Philippines," the commission said, adding that the people of Batanes had already liberated the islands from Japanese occupation in early 1945.

In closing, the NHCP expressed solidarity with the people of Batanes in proclaiming allegiance to the Philippines as it called on academic institutions to be "true researchers" and academics.

The Philippine government dismissed claims Thursday that Batanes belonged to China, saying the consular district of China's Consulate General in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, includes the northernmost province and group of islands.

The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila has called on the so-called Chinese scholars to instead focus on "good faith studies of the region."

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. has branded the claims as "baseless and ludicrous," saying all academics should immediately debunk the theory.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the National Security Council (NSC) also added their voices against the claims, with the former saying that the Philippines' sovereignty over Batanes has long been "settled, indisputable, and non-negotiable." — VDV, GMA News