China firm execs in Sangley airport project to be included in ICC complaint vs Xi – Morales

MANILA, Philippines — Executives of the Chinese construction company that bagged the Sangley Point airport project in Cavite will be included in the complaint filed by two former top government officials against Chinese President Xi Jinping before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, who filed the complaint together with former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, disclosed this in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel on Thursday.

Del Rosario and Morales filed the communication in March 2019, with Xi and other officials as respondents for the alleged “crimes against humanity” committed against Filipinos in the West Philippine Sea.

The two former government officials accused China of depriving thousands of Filipino fishermen of accessing its own resources and engaging in massive land reclamation activities that resulted in devastating environmental damage in the West Philippine Sea.

In December, the ICC dismissed the complaint, saying it has no territorial or personal jurisdiction over the case.

But Morales said the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC gave them a “window” to file a motion for reconsideration.

“We are filing this month what amounts to a motion for reconsideration of the resolution of report of the Office of the Prosecutor that it has no jurisdiction over the case,” she said.

“Because we insist that the crimes committed by Xi Jinping et. al were committed within Philippine territory and also within the exclusive economic zone…,” she added.

The former ombudsman said the executives of the China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. (CCCC), which is part of a consortium that bagged the Sangley Point International Airport project in Cavite, will be included in the motion for reconsideration.

“By the way, in our, what amounts to a motion for reconsideration, [we] are impleading the executives of the Chinese construction company for having been instrumental in the building of artificial islands,” Morales said.

“The CCCC company. The executives. The same CCCC company which is now helping the project in Sangley Point, Cavite,” she added.

CCCC was also among the Chinese firms blacklisted by the US government for their alleged role in Beijing’s militarization of the South China Sea.

Despite the US sanctions, President Rodrigo Duterte decided to push through with the Sangley airport project.

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