GMA 24 Oras News May 22 2017
PH can sue China for war threat – Justice Carpio
Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio urged the Philippine government on Saturday, May 20, to sue China for threatening war against the Philippines over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) dispute.
In a statement, Carpio said the Philippines should run to another arbitral tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to protect the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
UNCLOS is the so-called Constitution for the Oceans while the EEZ is the 200-nautical mile area from a coastal state's baselines, within which the coastal state has the exclusive rights to explore and exploit resources.
Carpio wrote, "As a nation that under its Constitution has renounced war as an instrument of national policy, the Philippines' recourse is to bring China's threat of war to another UNCLOS arbitral tribunal, to secure an order directing China to comply with the ruling of the UNCLOS arbitral tribunal that declared the Reed Bank part of Philippine EEZ."
"The Philippines can also ask for damages for every day of delay that the Philippines is prevented by China from exploiting Philippine EEZ," he added.
Carpio is one of the staunchest advocates of the Philippines' claim over the West Philippine Sea. (READ: Why Carpio wants China to read his e-book)
Sought for clarification, Carpio explained that the Philippines "can sue" China because the Asian giant "is not complying with the previous ruling" issued by another arbitral tribunal.
This tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled in July 2016 to invalidate China's expansive claim over the South China Sea, but China has refused to comply with this ruling.
