VERA FILES FACT CHECK: ICJ did not scold former SC justice Carpio about a complaint he never filed, as Marcoleta claims

SAGIP Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta falsely claimed during a May 31 hearing of the Commission on Appointments (CA) that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) “rebuked” retired Supreme Court (SC) associate justice Antonio Carpio about a complaint on the presence of Chinese vessels within Philippine territory.

Carpio never filed a petition in the ICJ. The Netherlands-based court has no mandate to handle complaints by individuals or private entities other than the cases filed by member states or organs and specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN) such as the World Health Organization. 

Marcoleta made the statement when he asked then Foreign Affairs undersecretary Carlos Sorreta if there’s a need to harmonize the 1987 Constitution and other domestic laws with public international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Sorreta – now the country’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva – answered in the affirmative, citing the 2011 SC decision in the Magallona vs. Executive Secretary case that Carpio wrote.

In September 2020, the late Foreign Affairs secretary Albert Del Rosario announced that they would submit new evidence to the ICC, with Carpio serving as their counsel, to prove the occurrence of the alleged crimes in the Philippine territory and not just within its exclusive economic zone. He cited China’s illegal reclamation and artificial island-building in Subi Reef, saying it is within the territorial sea of Pag-asa Island in the Spratlys.

In a June 6 statement to VERA Files Fact Check, Carpio said, “After I retired from the SC, I entered my appearance as co-counsel but there were no pleadings filed after that.”

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