MANILA, May 3 -- Reelectionist Senator Francis Tolentino wants to see a concluded Code of Conduct in the South China Sea that upholds both the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2016 Arbitral Award.

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are in talks for a substantive COC, which will serve as a set of rules to manage tension between claimant states in the disputed sea lane.

"Let it be a code of conduct compliant with the law of the sea convention. Let it be a code of conduct that would support and uphold the 2016 Hague arbitral ruling. And let it be a code of conduct that would support the Philippine maritime zones law," Tolentino said during the Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas press ...