Torre de Manila INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / EDWIN BACASMAS
Government lawyers asked the Supreme Court to reset anew the scheduled July 21 oral arguments on the Torre de Manila controversy.
In its 27-page motion, Solicitor General Florin T. Hilbay asked for the court’s indulgence to reset the oral arguments to give him more time to also work on reviewing and submitting corrections to the transcripts of the hearings on jurisdiction and admissibility to the UN arbitration court. Hilbay just arrived from The Hague, The Netherlands as part of the contingent which represented the Philippines’ petition against China’s ongoing reclamation in the disputed West Philippine Sea.
Then, Hilbay said they will submit, on July 20 and 23 further written responses to the additional questions posed by the Arbitral Tribunal during the hearing early this month.
“As agent of the Republic in the arbitration, the Solicitor General has the authority to make binding decisions for the Republic. The importance of this arbitration and the nature of the issues involved require the Solicitor General to collaborate with the counsel of record in the review of the transcripts of the hearing and in the preparation of the Republic’s written responses to the questions posed by the Arbitral Tribunal,” Hilbay said.
“It is indispensable that he and his team be allowed all the time before the said 20 July 2015 and 23 July 2015 deadline to make the necessary preparations for the required submissions to protect the national interest,” he said, adding that they also need to confer with various government agencies connected to the arbitration case and report what happened during the hearing.
He added that they also need time to prepare for the oral arguments in the Torre de Manila case and have enough time to also confer with the concerned agencies to assist him in preparing the government’s position.
“Thus, given the complexity, novelty and important historical and cultural implications of the present case, the undersigned, as counsel for respondents, are constrained to ask for the Honorable Court’s indulgence in granting an additional period of 30 days from 15 July, 2015 or until 14 August 2015, within which to submit the required position paper and at least 30 days from 21 July, 2015 to adequately prepare for the oral arguments,” Hilbay said.
The oral argument was originally scheduled on June 30 but the government’s counsel asked that it be rescheduled for July 30. The high court partly granted its request and rescheduled it for July 21.
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In filing the case against China in 2013, the Philippines wants the arbitral tribunal to issue a declaration saying that China’s nine-dash line claim is invalid and is contrary to the United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS, direct China to respect the Philippines’ sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its Exclusive Economic Zone, continental shelf, contiguous zone, and territorial sea over the West Philippine Sea and to ask China to desist from activities that violate the country’s sovereign rights.
But China does not recognize the case and said the arbitral tribunal has no jurisdiction over it as it insisted on bilateral negotiation to resolve the maritime territorial dispute. IDL