Ousted Maria Lourdes Sereno was booted out of the Supreme
Court for she was not qualified to be the Chief Justice of the Philippine
Supreme Court.
Out of that whole chapter in Philippine Supreme Court history
is Associate Supreme Court Justice who is hailed by some quarters as the expert
in the West Philippine Sea issue, he did active participation in the Arbitral
case which we won in Hague.
At the present he has been very consistent in his criticisms
with incumbent president Rodrigo Roa Duterte over the issue as regards the
country’s “exclusive economic zones” or EEZ when the President “permitted”
foreigners to fish in our EEZ, because the President was pretty consistent he
does not want the Philippines to have a war with China.
(photo credit to the The Daily Tribune) |
While this is a very contentious issue who is correct and
whois wrong, will try the so-called legal luminaries do the decision for us.
What is surprising to us is the “selective” attitude
Associate Justice Carpio seems to be having as against Duterte compared to
Noynoy Aquino with respect to another contentious territorial issue – the Philippines
claim to Sabah.
The Daily Tribune last July 3 made a very eloquent and
emlightening article about Justice Carpio’s perceived ignoring of the Sabah
issue.
TDT says that “Justice Carpio has been unduly criticizing
President Duterte while ignoring the abject failure of ex-President Benigno
Aquino III to defend the Philippine claim to North Borneo, which Malaysia calls
Sabah, and the unwillingness of the SC to help in the matter.”
For the convenience, information, and
understanding of our reading public we are quoting in full said Daily Tribune article
titled “Carpio, SC conveniently ignored Sabah” which was published last July 3.
Carpio, SC conveniently ignored Sabah
Supreme
Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio is reputed as the leading
Philippine expert on territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
Through ancient charts and old maps, Carpio debunked Beijing’s claim of
ownership over almost all the important maritime highway.
Carpio
has written a book on the subject, and he has delivered numerous public
lectures on the issue, many of which were supposedly done during official time.
Just
recently, Carpio scored President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to allow Chinese
fishermen to operate in the Philippine’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the
WPS. Carpio argues that allowing Chinese fishermen to operate in the EEZ is
illegal because the Constitution reserves the right to use and enjoy Philippine
maritime resources to Filipinos.
A
maritime nation’s EEZ is recognized by countries that signed the United Nations
Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The Philippines and China are
signatories to the UNCLOS.
President
Rodrigo Duterte disagrees with Carpio. Duterte sees nothing wrong with Manila
permitting foreign fishermen in its EEZ, which is a promise he made to Beijing
more than a year ago. The president is not too keen on going to war with China.
In
his latest tirade against President Duterte, Justice Carpio insisted that the
president has the legal obligation to protect the territorial integrity of the
country.
While
there is truth in that statement, political observers believe that Justice
Carpio has been unduly criticizing President Duterte while ignoring the abject
failure of ex-President Benigno Aquino III to defend the Philippine claim to
North Borneo, which Malaysia calls Sabah, and the unwillingness of the SC to
help in the matter.
North
Borneo belongs to the Philippines by historic right and legal title. It belongs
to the Sultanate of Sulu, which is part of Philippine territory under both the
Spanish and American colonial authorities. The territory was eventually leased
by a British corporation for several years.
After World War II, when the United Kingdom (UK) granted independence to the Federation of Malaya (the predecessor of Malaysia), the British illegally gave away North Borneo to its former colony.
After World War II, when the United Kingdom (UK) granted independence to the Federation of Malaya (the predecessor of Malaysia), the British illegally gave away North Borneo to its former colony.
On
two occasions, the United States formally informed the UK that North Borneo is
not theirs to give away to Malaysia. Those two advisories were ignored by the
British.
Until
recently, Malaysia pays an annual rent to the Sultanate of Sulu for its lease
on North Borneo.
In
1967, President Ferdinand Marcos organized a commando attempt to recover North
Borneo from Malaysia. The plan was mismanaged and an exposé by then Sen.
Benigno Aquino Jr. doomed the recovery plan.
Since
then, the Philippine government has been avoiding public debate on the North
Borneo claim. Pleas for help from the descendants of the Sultan of Sulu are
repeatedly ignored by the State.
Decades
later in 2013, exasperated relatives and allies of the Sultanate of Sulu
launched a commando offensive in North Borneo to get back what is legally
theirs to begin with. The offensive failed, and the Filipino commandos were
captured and imprisoned by Malaysian authorities.
To
add insult to the injury, President Aquino III ordered the arrest and
prosecution of the Filipino commandos who managed to evade the Malaysian
dragnet and made it back to Mindanao. It was an obvious example of a Filipino
president punishing his own people who only wanted to recover what lawfully and
historically belonged to them.
That
same year, local rights advocate Louis “Barok” Biraogo filed a petition for
mandamus in the SC to compel the Department of Foreign Affairs, representing
the Republic of the Philippines, to press, once and for all, Manila’s formal
claim to North Borneo before the United Nations. That petition was summarily
dismissed by the SC en banc in a resolution written by then Chief Justice Maria
Lourdes Sereno. Like his fellow justices, Carpio is a member of the SC en banc.
Today,
the SC is actually entertaining a petition to compel the national government to
protect the rights of Filipino fishermen in the WPS. While Carpio and his SC
have shown keen interest in the WPS controversy, they have not demonstrated the
same zeal in Manila’s claim to North Borneo.
Perhaps
Carpio’s real agenda is not so much about the WPS, but more about embarrassing
President Duterte.
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