Palace defends allowing China to conduct joint research in Philippine Rise

January 15, 2018

Malacanang defended on Monday the decision to allow China to conduct a marine research in Philippine Rise (formerly Benham Rise) off eastern Luzon, saying President Rodrigo Duterte has the power "to share sovereign rights with others."

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the president implements the law.

"When the law talks of sovereign rights, that includes the sovereign decision to share the sovereign rights with others. And this has been decided already by the Supreme Court in La Bugal (case)," he said.

He said those questioning the wisdom of the law should go to Congress.

"Because if this is not a wise move of the president, then a law could probably be enacted to prohibit it. But until Congress decides that it is unwise, the president is only the implementer of the law. He does not provide for wisdom of the law, that’s how it is in our separation of powers," Roque explained.

"And that is why in this context, I would hope that our colleagues in government from the other branches of government could be faithful to their Constitutional mandates. So the judiciary must actually rule on justiciable controversies involving interpretation of the Constitution and existing laws. Leave the matter of wisdom of the law to Congress," he added.

Association Justice Antonio Carpio said in a news report it would be "dumb" for Manila to allow the Chinese to conduct a research while they have not recognized the arbitral ruling junking Beijing's historic and sovereign claim over almost the entire South China Sea, including those inside the Philippine exclusive economic zone.

Roque said allowing China to do research in Philippine Rise is separate from the arbitral ruling.

"Because the issue of whether or not China accepts the ruling is immaterial under international law. What is material under international is it’s there. It’s there, that’s the unique feature of international law. You cannot deny what is there," he said.

"And when you talk of a customary rule of international, it’s binding on everyone whether or not they agree to it. So that decision, aside from being a treaty decision, is also an evidence that under customary law, the rulings of the arbitral tribunal are the binding legal principles whether or not countries agree to it," said Roque.

So I do not understand why Justice Carpio belabors the point that China hasn’t accepted it. In the first place, it’s not for the Philippines to compel any state to accept it. If he can point to any mechanism by which we can compel a state to recognize anything, let me know. But the last I heard, sovereignty is they are entitled to think what they want," said Roque. Celerina Monte/DMS