[Inside the Newsroom] Making sense of lies and truths about the West Philippine Sea

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To imagine the 2016 Arbitral Award as being disadvantageous to the Philippines is dishonest at best and malicious at worst

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A few weeks back, our key editors and reporters had a large huddle to plan for major events in 2026. July 12, 2026, will be the 10th year of the 2016 Arbitral Award granted to the Philippines by the Arbitral Tribunal at The Hague.

“How do we make that exciting for the average reader?” I started the conversation.  

I was met with silence — because making a 500-page document that debunks China’s so-called historical claims and dives into pages upon pages of arguments can be anything but exciting. 

Yet, we still try. 

Hi, I am Bea Cupin, a senior multimedia reporter who covers foreign affairs, diplomacy, and a little bit of politics. 

This newsletter is also my chance to admit that I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about how to make complex, nuanced, and sometimes boring topics like the 2016 Arbitral Award exciting and interesting for an audience whose attention span can be short and whose algorithm seems hellbent on feeding them trash. 

After all, what’s new about the 2016 Arbitral Ruling? What has changed and what hasn’t since it was awarded nine years ago? 

China, a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which has refused to acknowledge the ruling, insists that the latter is nothing but a piece of paper. Self-styled experts — including retired Philippine military officers — have echoed this China talking point. 

It’s part of why Rappler producer JC Gotinga has sent me several times to the depths of the West Philippine Sea (via green screen and the magic of video editing) to explain: 

• What has happened in Scarborough Shoal.
• What the Philippines got out of the Arbitral Award.
• Whether the historic case and decision has actually benefited Manila in the long run. 

To imagine the 2016 Arbitral Award as being disadvantageous to the Philippines is dishonest at best and malicious at worst. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has started calling out their retired comrades for parroting these claims. 

Its spokesperson has become more aggressive in countering claims made by experts who echo and amplify China talk points, particularly because some of these personalities have long been identified as part of a larger Chinese disinformation network. 

I’d always known that reporting on the West Philippine Sea would not be easy. 

At a media relations training for the newly-elevated military’s Joint Special Operations Command, I joked that when I requested two years ago to transfer from the Malacañang beat to the foreign affairs and security beat, I did not realize it would entail me riding rubber boats while holding onto dear life and climbing up metal stairs to board a patrol vessel. 

Yet, we persist. 

What I did not fully grasp two years ago, perhaps, was that the roughness of the waters in the West Philippine Sea at certain times of the year would be outdone by the murk in the information environment surrounding the issue. 

Yet, we persist. 

There is much be to be done — by the military, in its overdue quest for modernization; by the government, in shoring up its political power in the region; by the Department of Foreign Affairs, in convincing the rest of the world to side with Manila, among other things; and by the media, to do a better job at both fighting back against China’s claims while also holding Philippine officials accountable.  

At Rappler, the goal is not just to report the facts and the truth, but to make sure our reports reach communities that need the information the most, and that they reach them in a way that meets them where they are. 

If that means parsing through 500 pages of the Arbitral Tribunal’s decision, then I guess that’s the unhappy task I’m more than willing to take. 

Embedding with the military to cover military and coast guard operations in the West Philippine Sea, sifting through thick documents, speaking to experts, and talking to even more people on the ground — these things take time and resources. 

We would be grateful if you could support these efforts by signing up for a Rappler+ account. We also hold briefings and mixers — some of which I’ve had the privilege of being involved in — on issues that include China’s malign influence operations and tensions in the West Philippine Sea. – Rappler.com