Full coverage: The South China Sea Issue

In May this year, a Philippine columnist in an open paper described the foreign policy of Benigno Aquino's government as "a carbon copy of the U.S. policy for the Asia-Pacific region."

He also called on the new Philippine government to drop a defense pact between the Philippines and the United States, arguing it was reducing the country into one big U.S. military base.

Rod Kapunan is a columnist with the Philippines' daily newspaper "The Standard". He believes the Aquino administration has put Filipinos in great danger by filing the arbitration case.

"President Aquino gambled in our national sovereignty and pride. He exploited the so called national sentiment, or blind jingoism, which is not good," said Rod.

"Many Filipinos will be sacrificed for a war, which if you'll have to look back, it's a kind of war that was initiated by the Aquino administration, was not initiated by China. That's my position. There's no way we can win in that case."

Kapunan says China has always been open to direct and peaceful negotiations, but the decision might force Beijing to stay away from the negotiating table.

And the Philippines will lose out on opportunities to cooperate with China and the huge potential economic benefits.

Manila and Washington signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement in 2014 to allow U.S. troops to build facilities to store equipment in the Philippines, in addition to giving broad access to Philippine military bases.

Kapunan says that the true motive of US support for the Philippines is to strengthen its military presence in the region by escalating tensions.

Rod also added, "If the American's position is simply to justify its presence by using our to the peace and security in the region."