MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos should demand for a leader who will defend the West Philippine Sea, retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said on Thursday.
Carpio was responding to President Rodrigo Duterte who asked him and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario why the Philippines "lost" the West Philippine Sea.
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"Filipinos deserve, and should demand, a President who loves Filipinos first and foremost and who will uncompromisingly defend Philippine sovereignty and sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea," Carpio said in a statement.
The retired magistrate also stressed that he was the one who recommended to the Aquino administration to file a South China Sea arbitration case following the 2012 Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal standoff.
Pointing out that the Philippines won a landmark victory with the 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated China's nine-dash line claim, Carpio noted that Duterte announced that he was "setting aside" the ruling in favor of seeking loans from Beijing.
"Today, less than 5 percent of those loans and investments have materialized even as President Duterte is already leaving office next year," Carpio said.
Carpio also stressed that Duterte allowed China to fish in the country's exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea.
"We even import galunggong now from China, the same galunggong that Chinese fishermen take in the West Philippine Sea," he added.
The retired justice also narrated how the Duterte administration remained silent when the Chinese seized Sandy Cay, a sand bar located two nautical miles from Pag-asa Island in Palawan.
'Why did we lose West Philippine Sea?'
In a recorded speech aired Wednesday night, Duterte blamed Carpio and Del Rosario for the current situation in the West Philippine Sea.
"Alam mo, isang tanong lang ako kay (Antonio) Carpio pati kay Albert (Del Rosario). Kung bright kayo, bakit nawala ang West Philippine Sea sa atin? Panahon ninyo ‘yon eh," Duterte said.
(You know, I only have one question for Antonio Carpio and Albert del Rosario. If you are bright, why did we lose the West Philippine Sea? It happened during your term.)
The president also mentioned the 2016 arbitral ruling, which he described as a "binding order."
China, however, continues to reject the ruling and insists on indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea.
"Ang ating — for China tapos na ‘yon na may desisyon na, ayaw nilang sumunod. Tayo naman, we have the decision but we are at a loss of how to get it — get back physically the West Philippine Sea. Iyan ang problema," the chief executive said.
(For China the decision is final, they do not want to follow. For us, we have the decision but we are at a loss of how to physically get back the West Philippine Sea. That's the problem.)
Duterte, once again, insisted that invoking the arbitral award constitutes going to war with China, an argument that has been debunked by Carpio, Del Rosario and several other experts on maritime law.
"Kaya I have a choice of going to war, mamamatay tayong lahat kasi wala talaga tayong armas na — or I will just send my soldiers to hell which I will never do," Duterte said.
(That's why I have a choice of going to war, we will all die because we do not have weapons.)
— Patricia Lourdes Viray