By Rey Panaligan
Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio has called on Filipinos to use their freedom of expression and the power of social media to expose the “falsity” of China’s claim on the disputed South China Sea.
Acting Chief Justice Antonio T. Carpio
(JOHN JEROME GANZON / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
There must be a “truth movement” among Filipinos “to expose to the world, and to the Chinese people themselves, the falsity of the historical claim of the Chinese government to the South China Sea," particularly the "the falsity of China’s nine-dashed line claim."
Carpio spoke last Friday to graduates of the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication.
“We can call this present-day information campaign the South China Sea Truth Movement, a people’s movement using freedom of expression to explain the historical truth about the South China Sea,” he said.
“We can invite the peoples of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei -- countries whose Exclusive Economic Zones are also encroached by China’s nine-dashed line claim -- to join us in this Movement," he stressed.
He underscored the need to start immediately the information campaign despite the refusal of the present administration “to assert the arbitral ruling" handed down by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 in favor of the Philippines.
“The truth will secure forever our sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea, to be enjoyed by generations of Filipinos to come," he stressed.