ABOUT PROMOTING INTEREST AND PARTICIPATION IN OUR ADVOCACY; PARTNERSHIPS WE SEEK

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There are two aspects of the balikBalangay advocacy – (1) the pursuit of pure science to underpin ocean governance, and (2) the development of law and policy to define the uses of the regional sea and peculiar requirements of ocean governance and maritime security. Undertaking the first aspect is Oceanfriends, Inc., while the second aspect is the province of the Center for Archipelagic and Regional Seas Law and Policy Studies. In both aspects, the balikBalangay will reach out to form regional partnerships with interested governmental or non-governmental/private entities. This approach subscribes to UNCLOS ocean governance principles, especially as pertains to the  context of maritime Asia where enclosed/semi-enclosed seas and regional archipelagic waters are both expansive sea areas adjacent to, and interconnected with, each other. A track 1 ½ role in ocean governance in the aforementioned complicated and complex circumstances whether to supplement/complement governmental efforts, or on its own as track 1 ½ mirror-image, is encouraged under UNCLOS Article 123.  This Article recognizes the role of international organizations, and in the modern context, this includes  non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) or civil societies.
​As a track 1 ½ entity, the partnership we seek will firstly be with counterpart regional non-governmental/private entities and civil societies that can create a seamless, comprehensive and coherent coverage of the maritime region, as a unified track 1 ½  regional maritime organization that mirrors the principal track 1 arrangement encouraged under UNCLOS Article 123 (d). Establishment of maritime cooperation in the desired regional scale for maritime Asia has been hamstrung by prevailing, long-standing political issues. Our balikBalangay proposition can facilitate early cooperation and possibly at a later stage, in the fullness of time, jumpstart the indispensable Track 1 cooperative regional undertaking. Further, even when the latter desired track 1 event is realized, the track 1 ½ network is envisaged to continue to play a constructive complementary/supplementary subsidiary support role.