Mere presence of China Coast Guard is threat to PHL territories —Carpio

The mere presence of the Chinese coast guard near the sandbars of Sandy Cay and other territories owned by the Philippines threatens the country's claims over the landmass and nearby territories, Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio said on Wednesday.

"The presence of Chinese coast guard anywhere in the nine-dash line is to enforce their claim in the nine-dash line," he explained on Monday in an interview on ANC.

"When Chinese coast guard vessels go to the West Philippine Sea, they don't have to say we are claiming this because they already claim that, and they are enforcing their claim," Carpio continued.

President Rodrigo Duterte once said that the Chinese coast guard is patrolling Sandy Cay because they are his "friends" and they are allegedly not claiming anything.

"But, of course, China claimed 80 to 85.5 percent of the South China Sea in 2009. China filed a claim with the United Nations, which is official notice to the Philippines," Carpio noted.

If the Philippine government allows China to assert dominance and claim Sandy Cay, he said their claims over the nearby Subi Reef will also be legitimized.

Furthermore, the Philippines can potentially lose one-third of its territory in the Pagasa Island if China claims Sandy Cay as it is only two nautical miles away from Pagasa.

"We should be very careful in allowing anything that China would interpret later as acquiescence to their claim," Carpio warned.

Carpio added that the Philippines must sit down with Vietnam and China to discuss the rules on fishing inside the lagoon of the Scarborough Shoal (Panatag Shoal) "to maintain sustainable fishing."

This is after Chinese authorities repeatedly turned away Filipino fishermen from fishing in the common fishing ground.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the Philippines, invalidating China's massive claims over the South China Sea. 

The tribunal in The Hague ruled that no country can claim sovereign rights over the shoal, a traditional fishing ground for Filipino, Vietnamese and Chinese fishermen. China has refused to recognize the ruling, which cannot be imposed as the Permanent Court of Arbitration has no enforcement mechanism.

Preserve the ruling

If the Duterte administration does not wish to enforce the 2016 ruling, Carpio said it must be preserved for the next administration.

"What I fear most is that we may be waiving our rights under the ruling," he said. "If the present administration does not want to enforce the ruling, it must be preserved for the next administration."

"I respect the right of the President not to enforce it now if he doesn't want to enforce it now, but he must not waive the ruling. He must allow the next administration to enforce it," Carpio added.

He belied Defense Chief Delfin Lorenzana's claim that efforts to enforce the Philippines' rights over Beijing's turned relations "chaotic" as the "landmark decision" was an overwhelming success recognized by other naval powers.

"They (international parties) are enforcing part of the ruling," Carpio said. "You ask any international law expert, any foreign policy expert all over the world and they will say it is a landmark ruling."

Only way is to educate

Because only states may file diplomatic protests against other countries, Carpio said the best recourse for civilians is to educate their fellow Filipinos on the importance of asserting the Philippines' claim to its territories.

"We have to educate everybody so that the Filipino people will understand that is not acceptable because we could lose one-third of the territorial sea of Pagasa and we should protest," he said.

Carpio added that he would like to know if the diplomatic protests the Philippines supposedly filed against China, as mentioned by Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, included Sandy Cay. —Rie Takumi/KG, GMA News