House panel tackling sea dispute plans tap FVR, Carpio for advice

Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON

THE HOUSE of Representatives special committee on the West Philippine Sea plans to include former President Fidel V. Ramos and Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio among its advisers.

Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr., who chairs the special committee, said the two are considered experts on the issue of the country’s territorial dispute with China.

“They are experts and very knowledgeable about the topic,” Belmonte said.

He also acknowledged Ramos’  “good relationship with China.”

The former president was made a special envoy to Beijing by President Duterte and undertook a trip to Hong Kong to reopen channels for negotiations in August, a month after the Philippines won its case against China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

Belmonte said he would consult with Carpio in the latter’s “private capacity” and not as a magistrate on the Supreme Court.

He acknowledged Carpio’s participation in the high-level delegation that  argued the country’s case against Chinese encroachment before the United Nations arbitral tribunal in The Hague in the Netherlands last year.

Belmonte as the then Speaker of the House was also a member of the delegation.

Belmonte said he was also thinking of tapping other knowledgeable persons on the issue, like Angkla Rep. Jesulito Manalo, former Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and former Magdalo Rep. Ashley Acedillo.

He said he was also considering tapping some retired military generals, whom he did not name.

On July 12, the UN arbitral tribunal upheld the country’s exclusive economic zone in the West Philippines Sea under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (Unclos) and declared invalid Beijing’s claim to nearly the entire South China Sea.

The Philippines sought arbitration in 2013 after a standoff between Philippine and Chinese ships at Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal off Zambales province the previous year.