By Mike B. Policarpio / Envoys&Expats Editor
FOR the first time in nearly three decades, a compendium on the country’s international laws has seen print anew with the publication of the Philippine Yearbook of International Law (PYIL).
The 2017 edition of the yearbook, at volume 16, was made available to the public with a formal launch on March 18 at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) headquarters in Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, witnessed by luminaries in the fields of diplomacy, law and academe—including practitioners and students of the said disciplines, who also served as members of its editorial board.
Former University of the Philippines (UP) Law Dean Merlin M. Magallona was the 270-page tome’s editor in chief, with Assistant Professor Rommel J. Casis as associate editor.
Asian Society of International Law (AsianSIL)’s Professor Harry L. Roque Jr., Philippine Society of International Law (PSIL)’s Elizabeth Aguiling-Pangalangan, the DFA’s Assistant Secretary and Ambassador J. Eduardo Malaya, the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s Raul C. Pangalangan, Ambassador of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in Geneva Manuel J. Antonio Teehankee, Wollogong University’s Dr. Lowell Bautista, Ateneo de Manila University’s Dean Sedfrey M. Candelaria and UP’s Assistant Professor Andre C. Palacios complete the roster of editorial consultants.
International law: ‘Great equalizer’
ACCORDING to the DFA, the need for the PYIL has become more evident in the light of recent developments in international law. Starting in 2017 the UP Law Center-Institute of International Legal Studies (IILS) took the lead in relaunching the PYIL, through the endorsement of Malaya and Teehankee.
The DFA’s Office of Treatise and Legal Affairs, under
Malaya’s helm, spearheaded the launch. The diplomat said in his keynote address
that “international law
is a great equalizer,” as it endows small states the same capacity as those of
superpowers.
In his speech, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. also enjoined the envoys, especially those in attendance, to contribute “something substantial” to the next edition of the yearbook. The country’s top diplomat briefly touched on the Philippines’s recent withdrawal from the ICC, and averred that President Duterte “made the correct decision” on the matter.
Roque, who currently leads the AsianSIL, maintained in his brief talk that Asian nations should have an active role in international law, rather than just maintaining a “passive following.”
First published in 1966, the
PYIL’s first editor in chief was the late Justice Florentino P. Feliciano, who
oversaw its annual printing until 1975. It became a joint undertaking by the
PSIL and the UP Law Center until 1989.
The new PYIL is available at the UP Law Center Bookroom of the Bocobo Hall in UP Diliman. For subscription information, contact the UP-IILS at (632) 920-5514 or via e-mail: iils_law.upd@up.edu.ph.
PHL to host Asian Society of International Law meet
MEANWHILE, the book launch coincided with the announcement of the country’s hosting of the Seventh Biennial Conference of the AsianSIL, which according to the DFA is “Asia’s most important international law conference this year.”
Slated on August 22 and 23 in Quezon City, the confab will revolve around the theme: “Rethinking International Law: Finding Common Solutions to Contemporary Civilization Issues from an Asian Perspective.” It earmarks to gather some 400 delegates from across the globe. Invited to keynote the conference is Australian academic and international lawyer James Crawford of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Locsin expects that the event “will benefit from the expertise not only of leading international law practitioners and teachers from the region, but also of the Asian judges of the ICJ [as well as] other international judicial and arbitral bodies.”
Image credits: Nonie Reyes