SENIOR Associate Justice Antonio Carpio may be retiring on Oct. 25, but it does not mean to say that he is giving up his advocacy on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) issue.
Carpio himself issued the following statement, “I would soon be retiring from government service, but I will continue defending the WPS.” He said this recently in a speech at the joint membership meeting of the Makati Business Club (MBC), Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), Judicial Reform Initiative (JRI) and Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex).
Thus, it is with deep appreciation and gratitude that Carpio made this remark because it is not only pleasing and reassuring to many Filipinos who are expressing apprehensions about what is happening in the WPS over China’s incursion, militarization of man-made islands and control of the area, but because he is being listened to abroad by many equally concerned of China’s almost sweeping claim of the whole of South China Sea (SCS) of which the WPS is part.
Carpio will always be remembered not only as a principled person in his 18 years in the Supreme Court, but as one of the most vocal defenders of the country’s position on the WPS—as member of the high tribunal and part of the legal team that won for the country an international arbitral ruling invalidating China’s incredible claim over almost the entire South China Sea.
Former foreign affairs chief Albert del Rosario described him as the “staunchest defender” of our maritime rights and entitlements over the WPS. Nobody could refute this.
But, one wonders, however, why President Duterte would not take Carpio’s side, but rather maintain civility with China’s leaders?
Well, while Duterte acknowledges and recognizes the achievement of the legal team that contested China’s nine-dash line before the Permanent Court of Arbitration ( PCA) in The Hague, the fact, however, remains that China has dug in and militarized the WPS even as the PCA was litigating the China-Philippine maritime dispute. It could even be fairly and justifiably said that China’s hegemony in this part of the world started long before Duterte assumed the presidency.
Suffice to say that Duterte is left with no other option but to act statesmanlike for the good of the country and its people instead of harboring ill feelings that will only adversely affect one’s relationship with a military and economic giant of a country whose boots are already well entrenched in our backyard.
Like us, the rest of the world, including the US, has to admit that there is no outside force nor is there an international entity that could peacefully drive away Asia’s military and economic powerhouse from its strategic position where it claims it’s theirs historically.
Be that as it may, the WPS needs Carpio and his plan of continuing not only his advocacy but also of gathering like-minded friends and organizing a “think tank” that will promote the country’s position on the WPS. It is profoundly inspiring and uplifting if only to keep reminding China anent the international tribunal’s ruling that the nine-dash demarcation could not be used to make historic claims to the SCS, parts of which are claimed by six governments.