Duterte’s statement on arbitral award proves int’l pressure working —Etta Rosales

President Rodrigo Duterte's recent declared position about the Philippines' entitlements in the West Philippine Sea proves that pressure from the international community is working, former Commission on Human Rights chief Etta Rosales said Wednesday.

Duterte invoked the 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated China's massive claims to the South China Sea in his first address before the United Nations General Assembly early Wednesday.

"The Award is now part of international law, beyond compromise and beyond the reach of passing governments to dilute, diminish or abandon. We firmly reject attempts to undermine it," Duterte said.

He had set aside the arbitral ruling earlier in his presidency while his administration sought stronger ties with Beijing.

Rosales, chair emeritus of Akbayan Party-list, said Duterte's "180-degree turn" is a "big victory for international law and Philippine sovereignty against his own defeatist policy on China."

"It is solid proof that the international community's pressure for Mr. Duterte to submit to and recognize International law is working," she said in a statement.

While saying that history was made, Rosales credited this to the efforts of the Filipino people and the support of the international community and not to Duterte, whom she said "should have done this a long time ago."

"We call on the global community to continue expressing its opposition to Mr. Duterte's wanton disregard for human rights and rule of law in the Philippines, and exert more political and diplomatic pressure to bring the Philippines back to the path of democracy," she said.

Retired Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio and former Foreign Affairs secretary Albert Del Rosario, both advocates for the Philippines' maritime claims, welcomed Duterte's statement.

“The next step is for our president and his administration to put in reality the invocation of the arbitral award,” Del Rosario said.

Carpio said he hopes the Duterte administration will implement this policy "across all levels—in the protection of our exclusive economic zone in the West Philippines Sea, in the negotiations for the Code of Conduct, and in gathering the support of the international community for the enforcement of the arbitral award." — BM, GMA News