GMA inked 2 international documents during her last week in office

MANILA, Philippines - Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had signed, during her last week as president, the country’s membership to the oldest international legal organizations in the Netherlands.

Philippine Ambassador Cardozo Luna transmitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands last July 14 the Instrument of Acceptance of the Statute of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, signed on June 29, and the Act of Accession to the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, signed on June 25.

The Philippines is now the 70th member of the Hague Conference on Private International Law effective July 14 and the 111th member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration effective Sept. 12.

The Hague Conference on Private International Law is an intergovernmental organization charged with the progressive unification of the rules of private international law.

The Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes obliges governments with disputes to submit their disputes for conciliation.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Philippines’ membership to the legal organizations are “necessary formalities “ prescribed under international law and treaties like the Vienna Convention on the law of the treaties.

“These steps are needed to signify a country’s full accession to, and agreement to be bound by, a treaty or convention,” the DFA said.

Relations between the Philippines and Germany had been strained after the German firm Fraport AG filed a case against the Philippine government for failing to compensate them for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminal 3 project.

Fraport directly and indirectly acquired 61.44 percent of Philippine International Air Terminals Corp. (PIATCO), which obtained the rights for the construction and operation of NAIA 3. Fraport’s investments in PIATCO totaled around $425 million.

The claim arose from a decision of the Supreme Court which found that the concession was null and void.

Fraport argued that this decision translates to expropriation under the German-Philippine Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT).