Retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Thursday said the Philippines should seek another arbitral case to oblige China to agree to ground rules in Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal and claim damages for the losses incurred by Filipino fishermen.
“What we can do is to bring another case to compel China to agree to ground rules. And also, we would quantify the losses of our fishermen because they cannot freely fish there. We will quantify the losses and claim damages,” said Carpio in an interview with ANC’s “Headstart.”
Carpio made the remark days after China again insisted that the shoal, which it refers to as Huangyan Dao, is its “inherent territory.”
READ: PH slams Chinese ship’s dangerous maneuvering
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin also asked the Philippines on Monday to “earnestly respect” its sovereignty and “avoid interfering” with the patrol operations of the China Coast Guard at Panatag Shoal.
READ: Fishers not afraid to sail to Panatag despite PH-China row
Common fishing ground
This was a day after the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported that a Chinese coast guard vessel maneuvered dangerously close to PCG ship BRP Malabrigo while patrolling the shoal on March 2.
Carpio explained that based on the 2016 arbitral ruling, Scarborough Shoal is a common fishing ground for the Philippines, China, and Vietnam.
READ: Philippines wins arbitration case over South China Sea
“So if it’s a common fishing ground, the first thing to do is agree on the ground rules, how many tons of fish can each party take within the year because you don’t want to overfish. There must be ground rules and China even refuses to discuss this,” he said.
“We can ask Vietnam to join us in that arbitration so we’ll get more countries on our side. This is really a question of getting the world opinion on your side. We can isolate China by getting the world opinion on our side very clearly and that should be our game plan,” he added.
Carpio even suggested going to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
“The UNGA is the locus of world opinion. That’s exactly what Ukraine is doing, getting the world on its side and it matters,” he said, adding that what China wants is a bilateral dispute to exclude other countries.
“If you deal alone with China, it will just talk and talk forever without any resolution,” Carpio said.
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