Two former officials of the previous administration and a former senior associate justice of the Supreme Court have urged Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. to bring the 2016 Arbitral Ruling on the South China Sea (SCS) to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). They believe such can compel China to respect the ruling and stop its continued provocations in the contested waters.
Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, in a joint statement, asked Locsin to take advantage of the 75th regular session of the UNGA that will convene at its New York headquarters on September 15, 2020. They were joined in their statement by Former Justice Antonio Carpio.
At the UNGA, the leaders of 193 countries troop to the UN to promote their respective positions before the global community of nations.
“We, Filipinos, must not waste this chance to be heard. Having lost so many opportunities by the shelving of the Arbitral Ruling since 2016, it is now in our highest national interest to bring this Ruling on the South China Sea to the UNGA,” the Del Rosario-Morales-Carpio statement read.
In August last year, Del Rosario said the Philippines must urge the United Nations General Assembly to back the 2016 Hague ruling that asserted the country’s rights in the West Philippine Sea after Chinese vessels and warships were found in Philippine waters.
Former Justice Carpio supported Del Rosario’s proposals and then gave a twofold suggestion to do so, namely:
• Seek the support of the UN General Assembly in compelling Beijing to abide by the Arbitral tribunal ruling
• Bring up China’s threat of force at the UN and at other multilateral organizations.
Following the presence of Chinese fishing vessels stationed near Pag-asa Island in February and July 2019, Locsin had filed a diplomatic protest against China.
Also last year, del Rosario and Ombudsman Carpio-Morales sued Chinese President Xi Jin Ping and other ranking Chinese officials before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for “crimes against humanity.” The duo said China’s reclamations in the contested waters, where they dredged sand from a huge area to be converted into islands, have damaged the ecology and deprived Filipino fishermen of their livelihood. Also included in the complaint were the poaching and illegal fishing activities by Chinese fishermen in the West Philippine Sea.
However, the ICC has junked Carpio-Morales’s and del Rosario’s petition against China and its president, citing lack of jurisdiction on the case.
Locsin shuns UNGA card
Last Friday (August 28), Locsin, during a Zoom interview with Pinky Webb’s The Source on CNN Philippines, said: “I am going to completely ignore his suggestion that we bring this to the UN Arbitral award, because when you win something you do not appeal your victory; this is what del Rosario wants me do.”
Locsin, who was the Philippines’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York for two years before being named DFA chief, told CNN Philippines: “China has the numbers there, and it’s about numbers, it’s not about law,” adding “I can’t afford to lose our Arbitral Award, I don’t want to go down as the guy who lost it.”
However, Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales disagreed with Locsin.
“With due respect, we do not fully agree with the opinion of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. Bringing the Arbitral Ruling to the UNGA is not re-litigating the case. It is enforcing what we already won.”
They added: “As international law does not have a world policeman, it is up to us to enforce the Arbitral Ruling by rallying other countries to our lawful position. If we do not 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 “to secure our sovereignty and protect our lands and seas.”
They said, “This important mandate should prompt the government to bring the Arbitral Ruling to the UNGA.”
According to the two former officials, now is the proper time to raise the ruling at the UNGA in September, after they said President Duerte decided to shelve the Arbitral Ruling and promised to the Filipinos to raise it at a “proper time.” Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales said this coming September is the President’s “penultimate chance to fulfill his promise to the Filipino people.”
“President Duterte must raise the Arbitral Ruling at the UNGA this September as he will have just one more opportunity to gain the support of more countries next year in the same forum. “
They noted that the Arbitral Ruling was made under the auspices of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).
“In the long run, how can 145 littoral states of 193 UN member nations vote against their national interests by going against Unclos which grants them considerable maritime areas and resources they previously did not enjoy?”
They wondered aloud how naval powers like the US, the UK, France and others can withhold support from Unclos which upholds their freedom of navigation and overflight around the world.
During his extensive interview on Friday with CNN Philippines, Locsin explained his reluctance to bring the Arbitral Ruling to the UNGA, “it is a numbers game and we don’t have the number.”
“If you bring [the award] at the UNGA in September we lose?” asked Webb, to which Locsin replied: “That’s right, we’ll lose it, and believe me, the smaller the country, the more insular its character in that sense similar to us. The more likely they will not vote with us, because they need all the help they can get. China is very aggressive, and not in a bad way, in pushing developmental projects.”
“Wouldn’t UNGA highlight the Rule of Law?” Webb persisted.
Locsin replied: “Of course that’s the creed. When you go to the UN, the motto is on the wall, but if you are in discussion at the General Assembly and voting, it is self-interest that governs.”
“Thank you del Rosario, Justice Secretary [Antonio] Carpio, [President Benigno Aquino] Noynoy for winning the Arbitral Award and I swear I’ll not lose that by a fanciful desire to throw this Award into contestation again in an uncertain assembly. That’s about as polite as I can put it.”
Image credits: AP/Aaron Favila, AP/Sakchai Lalit