Jardeleza urges Duterte to act on PH maritime entitlements

WHILE securing the Philippines’ maritime entitlements will take time with the favorable decision of the UN Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), the country’s chief diplomat, President Rodrigo Duterte, can already proceed with the necessary tools to get the job done, Supreme Court Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza said.

Jardeleza and former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay were among the delegates who defended the country’s case against China’s massive claim over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

“With this award, issued by a distinguished panel of impartial legal experts, the rights and obligations of the parties under United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS) are now clarified,” Jardeleza said at a press conference on Tuesday evening.

“It has been the consistent view of the legal team that this award will be a potent legal platform as our country moves forward to political and diplomatic phase of our goal of effectively asserting our maritime entitlements under UNCLOS,” Jardeleza said.

He pointed out that the dispute could be resolved only “diplomatically, by agreement between the various states.”

Jardeleza, together with Hilbay, said most of the country’s submissions have been affirmed by the PCA.

Among the major submissions affirmed by the PCA is the declaration that the nine-dash line is contrary to UNCLOS and has no basis in law.

PCA also ruled that China’s action of preventing Filipino fishermen from engaging in traditional fishing in Scarborough Shoal was unlawful.

Jardeleza said PCA ruled that Scarborough Shoal, Gaven Reef, McKennan Reef, Johnson Reef, Cuarteron Reef and Fiery Cross Reef are rocks that generate no entitlements to an exclusive economic zone.

It also declared that the Mischief Reef, Second Thomas Shoal and Reed Bank as “part of the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of the Philippines, and are not overlapped by any possible entitlement of China,” according to them.

The PCA ruling also held that China violated its obligations under UNCLOS to protect and preserve maritime environment when it built artificial islands in Mischief Reef without necessary permission from the Philippines.

Jardeleza said the PCA’s ruling is final and binding to both parties.