PH may ask arbitration court to put halt to China sea reclamation

The Philippine government will study the possibility of asking the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration to issue a provisional remedy to the ongoing construction activities of China in the West Philippine Sea as suggested by Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, one of the officials who went to Netherlands to attend the hearing, said they had not yet asked for a provisional remedy but it was being studied.

“Kasama ‘yan sa pinag-aaralan ngayon ng legal team,” she told reporters in a chance interview.

For now, De Lima said the focus was for the country to win its case against China’s position that the tribunal had no jurisdiction over the territorial dispute.

“So kung magru-rule po favorably sa atin siguro ‘yun na ang susunod na gawin natin but of course I am not trying to preempt ‘yung legal team pinag-aaralan muna ng husto yan. The legal strategy is as important as the merits of our position,” she said.

China has created about 2,000 acres of reclaimed land on seven reefs—Subi Reef, Gaven Reef, Mischief Reef, Johnson Reef, Fiery Cross Reef, Chigua Reef and Calderon Reef. Reports say that from reclamation, China has transitioned to infrastructure development, insisting that the activities are being done on islands it claims it owns.

Carpio said China’s activities destroyed the reefs in less than two months.

“Seventy percent of fish in the Philippines are spawned here … carried by the tides to Palawan and even Vietnam. So, this is our food source and China doesn’t care,” Carpio said during a forum entitled “Toward Common Actions on Maritime Commons—Safeguarding Maritime Security in Asia Through Regional Cooperation” in Ortigas.

“The Philippines can ask the tribunal to issue a provisional measure directing China to stop its reclamation to prevent serious harm to the marine environment … Even if China ignores it, the world will know China is defying an international order,” he added.

Carpio said only the Philippines could put up structures and artificial islands on Subi Reef.

Under Article 60 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in an exclusive economic zone, “the coastal state shall have the exclusive right to construct and to authorize and regulate the construction, operation and use of artificial islands and installations for economic purposes and installations which may interfere with the exercise of the rights of the coastal state.”

Carpio said China could justify its actions under Article 87 about freedom of the high seas. “But this only applies to international seas beyond EEZs,” he said.