By Perfecto T. Raymundo
MANILA, June 25 (PNA) — Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio on Thursday reiterated the call for the country’s plea for the United Nations International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) to issue a provisional remedy in the case of the West Philippine Sea.
Carpio made the call anew following the statement of Atty. Harry Roque that the Philippines should take it slow to ask for a provisional remedy at the ITLOS because of fears that China may insist that their reclamation activity is part of their military and law enforcement activities in the disputed territory that they are claiming.
Under the Article 290 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), if the protest is already submitted to the ITLOS, it may issue a provisional measure to protect the right of each party in the case and to prevent any serious environmental damage while the final decision in the protest is still pending.
In his speech at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM), Carpio expressed doubts whether China would insist on their reservations at the UNCLOS because in its position paper, it clearly states that the objective of the reclamation activities is for “civilian function”.
Carpio added that Article 88 of the UNCLOS also states that the “high seas” such as the South China Sea is only for peaceful activities.
This provision of UNCLOS, Carpio said, prevents China to insist that the objective of their reclamation is for military activities because if such is the case, this is a blatant violation in the UNCLOS.
It was learned that when China joined in the UNCLOS, it expressed its reservations under Article 298 of the UNCLOS and declared that they do not consider that the ITLOS has jurisdiction over the disputes involving their military and law enforcement activities in territories where they have sovereign rights. (PNA)