At 8:45 am, the Vice President attended the South China Sea Arbitration Award 12 July 2016: Promoting a Rules-based International System in Manila Polo Club, Makati City, hosted by Stratbase ADR Institute, Inc. The host organization is an independent international and strategic research organization that aims to address issues affecting the Philippines and East Asia. The forum was organized in line with the 2ndanniversary of the Philippines’ victory on the South China Sea Arbitration.

In her speech, the Vice President commemorated the day when the country won for itself a landmark international ruling. However, she also emphasized that with China’s continued encroachment on Philippine territories, the Philippines must continue to fight through diplomatic ways. “This is why our nations must come together to establish such a system, with an urgency befitting an issue as critical as the West Philippine Sea. This is what we must strive for; this is why we will persist. And this is the reason why we are all here today: to plant the seeds for multilateral and bilateral cooperation, that we may avert conflict on a global scale. With stakes this high, this is not the time to look for someone or something to blame; this is the time to find solutions for the benefit of us all.”

At 5:00 pm, the Vice President was called on by Khristtine De Guia-Ngo, an incoming District Chairman of Inner Wheel Clubs of the Philippines, Inc. (IWCPI) District 378. IWCPI is part of International Inner Wheel that has presence in 103 countries around the world. IWCPI is currently composed of 91 Inner Wheel Clubs divided into 9 Districts across the Philippines with a total of 1,622 members.