President Rodrigo Roa Duterte gave the challenge
to one of his fiercest critic current Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio
Carpio to come up with a plan in order to enforce the Philippines’ legal
victory against China in the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea.
The SC magistrate enumerated the possible options
for the President during his speaking engagement at the Ateneo Law School’s
graduation rites.
“My response is yes, Mr. President, there is a
formula — and not only one but many ways of enforcing the arbitral Award
without going to war with China, using only the rule of law. Let me mention a
few of these, and I hope the President will implement them as he had promised,”
Carpio said.
 |
| President Rodrigo Duterte and Senior Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio (photo credit to owner) |
Stop the defeatist attitude
Carpio said the government should stop its “defeatist”
attitude on the sea dispute.
“The Filipino people should not be intimidated by
national leaders who peddle a false option that either we go to war with China
or submit to China. This false option should be discredited once and for all.
This false option does not deserve any further space or airing in the nation’s
political discourse,” he said.
“We cannot just decry the
absence of an enforcement mechanism under UNCLOS. We cannot adopt a defeatist
attitude and just sit idly by and let China seize what international law has
declared to be our own Exclusive
Economic Zone,” Carpio added.
The following are the options proposed by Justice
Carpio:
·
The Philippines, Vietnam,
Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei can enter into a Convention declaring that, as
ruled by the arbitral tribunal, no geologic feature in the Spratlys generates
an Exclusive Economic Zone and there are only territorial seas from the
geologic features that are above water at high-tide.
This Convention will leave China isolated as the only disputant state claiming
Exclusive Economic Zones from the Spratly islands.
·
The Philippines can file an extended continental shelf claim in the West Philippine Sea beyond our 200-NM Exclusive Economic Zone off the coast of Luzon, where China is the only opposite coastal state. The Philippines can file this unilaterally with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. China cannot invoke historic rights under its nine-dash line claim which has already been ruled without legal effect by the arbitral tribunal. China’s own extended continental shelf does not overlap with the extended continental shelf of the Philippines in this maritime area.
The Philippines can file an extended continental shelf claim in the West Philippine Sea beyond our 200-NM Exclusive Economic Zone off the coast of Luzon, where China is the only opposite coastal state. The Philippines can file this unilaterally with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. China cannot invoke historic rights under its nine-dash line claim which has already been ruled without legal effect by the arbitral tribunal. China’s own extended continental shelf does not overlap with the extended continental shelf of the Philippines in this maritime area.
·
The Philippines can send on
patrol its 10 new 44-meter multi-role response vessels that were donated by
Japan for the use by the Philippine Coast Guard. These
vessels are ideal to patrol our Exclusive Economic Zone in the West Philippine
Sea to drive away foreign poachers. This will assert our sovereign rights over
this resource-rich maritime area in accordance with UNCLOS, and bridge the gap
between the rule of law and the rule of justice.
·
The Philippines can welcome
and encourage the Freedom of Navigation and Overflight Operations of the U.S.,
U.K., France, Australia, Japan, India and Canada in the South China Sea,
including the West Philippine Sea.The naval and aerial
operations of these naval powers, which are in conformity with UNCLOS and
customary international law, have increased in frequency since the 2016
arbitral Award, and are the most robust enforcement of the arbitral Award, bridging
the gap between the rule of law and the rule of justice.
·
The Philippines can send
its own Navy to join the Freedom of Navigation and Overflight Operations of
these foreign naval powers to assert, on behalf of the Philippines, that there
is an Exclusive Economic Zone in the West Philippine Sea belonging to the
Philippines as ruled by the arbitral tribunal. This
fortifies and enforces the arbitral Award with the support of the world’s naval
powers within and outside Asia, bridging the gap between the rule of law and
the rule of justice.
·
The Philippine Government
can support private sector initiatives to enforce the arbitral Award. The
most creative and dramatic way of enforcing the arbitral award has been
undertaken, not by the present government administration, but by three
patriotic private Filipino citizens. These brave Filipinos, former DFA
Secretary Albert del Rosario, former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales and
their counsel Atty. Anne Marie Corominas, using the rule of law, filed a
communication with the International Criminal Court charging the Chinese
leaders, headed by President Xi Jinping, of a crime against humanity.
What
can you say about this?
Share
us your thoughts by simply leaving on the comment section below. For more news
updates, feel free to visit our site often.
Stay
updated with today's relevant news and trends by hitting the LIKE button.
Thanks
for dropping by and reading this post.
Report from PDI
0 Comments