RETIRED Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio yesterday urged government to bring the South China Sea issue and the refusal of China to comply with the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration invalidating its massive claim in the disputed waters to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Speaking before a forum of the 1Sambayan coalition, Carpio said he is confident the Philippines will win the UNGA’s support against China, just like how the country won the arbitral ruling in 2016.
“We must sponsor a resolution, then submit it to the General Assembly that China must comply with the arbitral award of July 12, 2016. That will be put to a vote. I think we will win there,” he said, adding that aside from the US, the European Union, Japan and Australia, the country could also count on the support of coastal states which also adhere to the provision of the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) regarding one’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
He said countries would not want a precedent wherein bigger states could seize and deprive them of the use of their EEZ.
“The majority of the members of the UN General Assembly are coastal states. They are afraid that their big neighbors might seize their exclusive economic zones. They don’t want China to establish a precedent just to seize the exclusive economic zone of their smaller neighbors,” Carpio said.
Carpio was instrumental in helping the administration under President Benigno Aquino III bring the historic arbitral case against China in 2013.
He said bringing the issue to international fora such as the UNGA would pressure Beijing to comply with international law if it wants the respect of other countries.
“China has to feel the pressure that it is isolated because if China thinks that nobody cares about what’s happening in the South China Sea, then China will use force,” Carpio said, adding the time is right for Manila to bring the case to the UNGA.
Early this month, former Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Cuisia also urged the Marcos Jr. administration to bring to the UN cases of repeated intrusions and harassment by China of Filipino vessels in the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea. Cuisia, who served as envoy to the US from 2011 to 2016, said the government should not rely on the promises made by Chinese officials and diplomats every time Manila complains about their intrusion and harassment since most of the time they say one thing and do something else.
China continues to abide by the arbitral ruling and is insisting on bilateral talks to address the maritime territorial dispute, a move that experts said would be in its favor considering the economic and military heft it could bring to the table.
MARITIME ZONES
The House yesterday approved on final reading a bill defining maritime zones under the jurisdiction of the Philippines to establish the legal bases by which social, economic, commercial, and other activities may be conducted in those areas.
With an overwhelming 284 affirmative votes, congressmen approved the proposed “Philippine Maritime Zones Act,” which seeks to harmonize Philippine legislation with international laws, such as the UNCLOS.
According to HB 7819, maritime zones of the Philippines comprise the internal waters, archipelagic waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, EEZ, and continental shelf.
The bill provides for the exercise of jurisdiction over these zones with regard to rights and duties provided for in the UNCLOS. It also states that the rights of the Philippines relative to its maritime zones and entitlements shall be exercised in accordance with the UNCLOS, and the awards rendered by the Arbitral Tribunal in Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Among the principal authors of the bill are Reps. Rufus Rodriguez, Maria Rachael Arenas, Francisco Benitez, and Francisco Paolo Ortega V. — With Wendell Vigilia
