Carpio: PH sending patrol boat to EEZ in West PH Sea not an act of war

FILE – In this March 29, 2014, file photo, China Coast Guard vessel attempts to block a Philippine government vessel as the latter tries to enter the China Second Thomas Disputed Shoals, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, to rotate Philippine troops and resupply provisions.  (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

MANILA, Philippines — Sending a vessel to patrol the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine Sea is not an act of war, former Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio said Wednesday.

Carpio made the remark following a reported statement from Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson MGen. Edgard Arevalo that sending a ship may “militarize” the situation at the Julian Felipe Reef in the West Philippine Sea and trigger China to send Navy ships that will “probably escalate the situation.”

Arevalo was referring to China’s latest incursion in the West Philippine Sea wherein 220 Chinese vessels believed to be “manned by Chinese maritime militia personnel” were spotted at the Julian Felipe Reef.

“Sending a patrol boat, a Coast Guard vessel, or a Navy boat to your exclusive economic zone to patrol is not an act of war,” Carpio said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel’s “Headstart”.

“Under international law, every state has a right to protect its resources in its exclusive economic zone. It’s your right, an exercise of a right cannot be considered an act of war,” he added.

The Philippine government earlier filed a diplomatic protest over the presence of the Chinese vessels at the Julian Felipe Reef.

Another option for the Philippines to address the issue is to bring China to a United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) Tribunal.

“We should not stop the diplomatic protest. If we don’t want to send a Coast Guard or a Navy ship, at the very least we should a case before an Unclos Tribunal,” Carpio said.

“China is taking away or seizing our exclusive economic zone,” he added.

President Rodrigo Duterte, on numerous occasions, has said that he could not afford to go to war with China in asserting the Philippines’ sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea.

Nonetheless, in February this year, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced that it will deploy more ships to the West Philippine Sea, not to start a war with China but to ensure the safety of Filipino fishermen.

/MUF