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Two former officials from the previous administration and a former high-ranking associate judge of the Supreme Court have urged Foreign Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. to present the 2016 Arbitration Judgment on the South China Sea (SCS) to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). ). They believe that may force China to respect the ruling and stop its continuing provocations in the disputed waters.
The former Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario and the Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, in a joint statement, asked Locsin to take advantage of the 75th regular session of the UNGA that will meet at its headquarters in New York on September 15, 2020. statement of former judge Antonio Carpio.
At the UNGA, the leaders of 193 countries join the UN to promote their respective positions to the global community of nations.
“We Filipinos must not waste this opportunity to be heard. Having lost so many opportunities due to the filing of the Arbitration Judgment since 2016, it is now in our greatest national interest to bring this Judgment on the South China Sea to the UNGA, ”the statement from Del Rosario-Morales-Carpio reads.
In August last year, Del Rosario said the Philippines should urge the United Nations General Assembly to back the 2016 Hague ruling that affirmed the country’s rights in the Western Philippine Sea after vessels and vessels were found. Chinese war in Philippine waters.
Former Judge Carpio supported Del Rosario’s proposals and then gave a double suggestion to do so, namely:
• Seek the support of the UN General Assembly to force Beijing to abide by the arbitral tribunal’s decision.
• Raise the threat of China’s use of force at the UN and other multilateral organizations.
Following the presence of Chinese fishing boats stationed near the island of Pag-asa in February and July 2019, Locsin had filed a diplomatic protest against China.
Also last year, del Rosario and the Ombudsman Carpio-Morales sued Chinese President Xi Jin Ping and other senior Chinese officials before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for “crimes against humanity.” The duo said China’s claims to the disputed waters, where they dredged sand from a huge area to turn into islands, have damaged ecology and deprived Filipino fishermen of their livelihood. Poaching and illegal fishing activities of Chinese fishermen in the Western Philippine Sea were also included in the complaint.
However, the ICC has dismissed Carpio-Morales and del Rosario’s petition against China and its president, citing lack of jurisdiction in the case.
Locsin bypasses the UNGA card
Last Friday (August 28), Locsin, during a Zoom interview with Pinky Webb The fountain On CNN Philippines, he said: “I am going to completely ignore your suggestion that we take this to the UN arbitration award, because when you win something you don’t appeal your victory; this is what Del Rosario wants me to do ”.
Locsin, who was Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the UN in New York for two years before being appointed head of the DFA, told CNN Philippines: “China has the numbers there, and it is about numbers, not laws.” and added “I can To afford to lose our Arbitration Award, I don’t want to be the guy who lost it.”
However, Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales disagreed with Locsin.
“With all due respect, we do not totally agree with the opinion of the Secretary of Foreign Relations, Teodoro Locsin Jr. Bringing the Arbitration Judgment to the UNGA is not to litigate the case again. It is enforcing what we have already won ”.
They added: “As international law does not have a world police, it is up to us to enforce the Arbitration Judgment by bringing other countries together in our legal position. If we don’t help ourselves, how can we expect other countries to help us? “
The duo added that the 1987 Constitution has tasked President Duterte and the military with “ensuring our sovereignty and protecting our lands and seas.”
They said: “This important mandate should prompt the government to bring the Arbitration Award to the UNGA.”
According to the two former officials, now is the right time to raise the ruling at the UNGA in September, after they said that President Duerte decided to file the Arbitration Ruling and promised the Filipinos to raise it at “the right time.” Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales said that this coming September is the “penultimate opportunity for the president to fulfill his promise to the Filipino people.”
“President Duterte must raise the Arbitration Award at the UNGA this September, as he will have one more chance to win the support of more countries next year in the same forum. “
They pointed out that the Arbitration Award was issued under the auspices of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).
“In the long term, how can 145 littoral states of 193 UN member countries vote against their national interests, going against the Unclos that grants them considerable areas and maritime resources that they did not enjoy before?”
They wondered aloud how naval powers like the US, UK, France and others can deny support for Unclos, which defends its freedom of navigation and overflight around the world.
During his lengthy interview on Friday with CNN Philippines, Locsin explained his reluctance to bring the Arbitration Award to the UNGA, “it is a numbers game and we do not have the number.”
“If you bring [the award] at the UNGA in September we lose? Webb asked, to which Locsin replied, “That’s right, we will lose it, and believe me, the smaller the country, the more insular its character in that sense similar to ours. They are more likely not to vote with us, because they need all the help they can get. China is very aggressive, and not in a bad way, when it comes to promoting development projects. “
“Wouldn’t the UNGA highlight the rule of law?” Webb insisted.
Locsin replied, “Of course that is the creed. When you go to the UN, the motto is on the wall, but if you are in a discussion in the General Assembly and voting, it is self-interest that governs. “
Thank you del Rosario, Secretary of Justice [Antonio] Carpio, [President Benigno Aquino] Noynoy for winning the Arbitration Award and I swear that I will not lose it because of a fanciful desire to launch this Award for challenge again in an uncertain assembly. That’s the most polite thing I can say. “
