Archive - South China Sea

Virtually speaking before world leaders, President Rodrigo Duterte again sang a different tune on Wednesday, positively this time, when he declared that no country can “diminish” the importance of the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in favor of the Philippines against China.

House Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta claimed that former Supreme Court (SC) associate justice Antonio Carpio filed a case against Chinese President Xi Jinping before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in March 2019. This is false.

Five years after the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award, there is renewed debate about how best to understand its impact on the Philippine claims to the Spratly Islands chain. A contentious point is the Arbitral Award’s effect on Presidential Decree 1596, issued by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1978.Recent government pronouncements on the Julian Felipe Reef question have staked continuing Philippine claim over the feature based on the Marcos decree.

In his sixth and final State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 26, President Rodrigo Duterte falsely claimed the 2016 arbitral award, which nullified China’s expansive nine-dash line claim over the South China Sea, does not bind Beijing.

I read with amusement and disappointment retired Justice Antonio Carpio’s 1 July 2021 piece in the Inquirer. Let me take this opportunity to point out falsehoods and inaccuracies in his story, and tell the nation a few facts about this interesting case.

People’s Television (PTV) News, a state-run media network, posted a misdated quote card of former ambassador Rosario Manalo, in which the latter inaccurately claimed that the Philippines “handpicked” the arbitration panel in the South China Sea maritime dispute with China.

Shifting gears in just two days, President Rodrigo Duterte backed out from his challenge to debate with retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio about the withdrawal of Philippine Navy ships during the 2012 maritime standoff at Scarborough Shoal between China and the Philippines, as well as the latter's 2016 win at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).

In reiterating his stance on avoiding “trouble” with China, President Rodrigo Duterte called the Philippines’ historic arbitral win in 2016 against the Asian giant on the South China Sea dispute as “just a [piece of] paper” that he would “throw into the wastebasket,” in a televised address on May 5.

Contrary to Roque’s claim, Locsin said he apologized only to his “friend” and counterpart, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and “nobody else.”

Blogger Sass Rogando Sasot, a vocal supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte, made at least seven inaccurate claims about the West Philippine Sea issue as tensions in the region rise with the continued unauthorized presence of Chinese vessels in the Philippines’ maritime areas.

The president himself said in a speech in June 2019 that he would “of course” allow Chinese nationals to fish within Philippine waters.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila has reiterated Beijing’s false claim that Julian Felipe Reef (international name: Whitsun Reef) is part of China territory.