Philippines must “fortify” arbitral ruling in South China Sea: experts 

July 12, 2017

The Philippine government should “fortify” the ruling of the United Nations arbitral tribunal on its maritime entitlements in the South China Sea against China, experts said on Wednesday. The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration came out with its landmark ruling a year ago invalidating China's historic claim in almost the entire South China Sea. Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, in a forum in Makati City, said the Duterte administration could not "trade away" the Philippine sovereignty or sovereign rights and "we should not give even the impression that we are willing to do so." He said the Philippines should seek cooperation with "like-minded states." "We should be ready to approach the UN General Assembly to appeal to the global village of nations," del Rosario said, adding that any suggestion of war should be shunned. "Instead, we should exhaust our diplomacy by protesting the threat of war, however unlikely it may be in actuality. We cannot allow others to play with the threat of war when our submitted disputes have already been clarified in the ruling," he said. When President Rodrigo Duterte assumed the presidency and shortly after the PCA came out with the ruling, he decided to put the ruling on the back burner as he even undertook two visits to China. Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio lamented that the government just "dropped the ball" shortly after the PCA award. "How can we expect the world to support us?," he said. Carpio, who helped in defending the Philippine case before the arbitration court, said "the real and practical option for the Philippines is to talk to China while taking measures to “fortify” the arbitral ruling...." He said the Philippines can enter sea boundary agreement with other Southeast Asian claimant countries, like Vietnam and Malaysia. The Philippines can also file an extended continental shelf claim beyond its 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea off coast of Luzon, he said. "If China does not oppose our extended continental shelf (ECS) claim and the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will of course award the (claim) to the Philippines similar to our extended continental shelf claim in Benham Rise where there was no opposition," he said. But if China opposes the Phippine ECS claim, he said Beijing would have a dilemma on what ground to invoke. "If China invokes the nine-dash line, the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will reject the opposition because the commission is bound by the ruling of the arbitral tribunal. If China claims an overlapping extended continental shelf, then China will be admitting  that the Philippines has a 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone from Luzon, that negates the nine dash line," Carpio explained. Carpio expressed optimism China would not fire a single shot as far as its dispute with the Philippines is concerned because it knew the United States would come in due to the Mutual Defense Treaty between Manila and Washington. He also cautioned the Philippines and other ASEAN claimant countries on the code of conduct that they have been working with China. He said they should not allow the COC to "supplant the Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) dispute settlement mechanism." Under the Unclos, even if another party refuses to participate in the arbitration case, it can still proceed, he said. Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, said since the PCA ruling, the "Philippines has been moving backward." He said the Duterte government must ensure to protect at least its minimum interest in the South China Sea. Koichi Ai, acting director general of the Japan Institute of International Affairs, underscored the need to uphold the rule of law. There should be a need to preserve the "credibility" of the system that governs the international order, he said. Like the Phippines, he said Japan is a maritime nation and "free and maritime order is important to Japan." Former National Security Adviser Roilo Golez warned it would be likely that China would also build structures and "militarized" the Scarborough Shoal three years from now. The experts believed the Philippines could gain more economically if it would continue vigorously with its claim in the South China Sea. The $24 billion aid and assistance that China has promised to the Phippines is just a small amount. "The value of the resources in the West Philippine Sea is much, much higher than the $24 billion," Carpio said. (Celerina Monte/DMS)