THE HAGUE—Philippine ambassador to the Netherlands J. Eduardo Malaya recently conducted a book lecture at the Teaching and Researching International Law in Asia (TRILA) Conference.
Featured during the lecture on July 3 was the book Philippine Treaties in Force 2020, which Malaya co-authored with Atty. Crystal Gale Dampil-Mandigma, who is a foreign service officer-lawyer at the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Office of Treaties and Legal Affairs.
The first such publication in decades, Philippine Treaties… is a comprehensive index to the 3,367 subsisting bilateral, Asean and multilateral agreements entered into the country since 1946, with links to online treaty databases for most of the agreements. The University of the Philippines (UP) Law Center published the book in March 2021.
In his presentation, moderated by Professor Elizabeth Aguiling-Pangalangan, the Netherlands-based Filipino envoy cited the importance of making the Philippines’s treaties readily accessible to the public: “Treaties embody our country’s commitments and legal obligations; or its flipside, [its] rights and entitlements vis-à-vis the international community. The provisions in agreements present immense opportunities to our country and people.”
The ambassador added, “Entrepreneurs, exporters and companies can benefit from agreements on trade access, investment promotion and protection, and avoidance of double taxation.”
He cited examples: “Farmers and fisherfolks may benefit from foreign-technical and development assistance. Students and the youth can avail of educational and cultural exchange programs. For policy-makers, we need to know what are our contractual rights and obligations, where the gaps are with respect to our development and other priorities, and what we need to work on.”
Other than the said book,Malaya is main author, coauthor or editor of nine books—including three on treaty law and practice: Treaties: Guidance on Practice and Procedure (2018) with UP Law professor Rommel J. Casis, as well as Philippine Treaties Index 1946-2010 with Ma. Antonina Mendoza-Oblena and Allan Casupanan.
The speakers, moderators and panelists at the three-day TRILA conference included Judge Raul C. Pangalangan (formerly with the International Criminal Court), Professor Aguiling-Pangalangan (Philippine Society of International Law (PSIL) and UP College of Law), Dean Sol Mawis (Philippine Association of Law Schools (PALS)), Professor Antony Anghie (National University of Singapore-Centre for International Law (NUS CIL)), Dr. Lowell Bautista (University of Wollongong-School of Law), Professor Sedfrey Candelaria (Ateneo de Manila University-School of Law), Dean Rodel Taton (San Sebastian College-Recoletos-School of Law), and Professor Mohammad Shahabuddin (University of Birmingham-Law School).
The conference is the seventh in the series of country-specific programs which are part of the “TRILA on the Road” initiative of the NUS CIL. TRILA aims to foster the development of Asian scholars, practitioners, officials and diplomats who are highly knowledgeable and skilled in international law and its operations in a continuously changing global environment.
NUS CIL organized the conference, in partnership with the PSIL and the PALS.