President Duterte's successor should take a multilateral approach in resolving maritime disputes involving the Philippines, former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said.
During a foreign policy forum organized by Stratbase ADR Institute, Carpio said that all countries that are part of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) – with the notable exception of China – “understand and recognize that all the living and non-living resources in the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) belong exclusively to the Philippines.”
"We must strengthen the rule of law in compliance with peaceful settlement of disputes among states in accordance with the UN Charter," he said.
"We do not want any state to resort to the use of force or the threat of force to settle territorial or maritime disputes, as what is happening now in Eastern Europe,” he added.
Carpio pointed out two courses of action to peacefully settle disputes between and among states.
First, he recommended that the five ASEAN coastal states, which are affected by China's nine-dash line, should invite China to join a voluntary arbitration to settle the issues of EEZs and extended continental shelves.
Second, once the arbitration is concluded, the ASEAN coastal states can enter into a convention, he said.
“The Philippines cannot endure another term of defeatist and weak security and foreign policy, especially in the context of national security," said Prof. Victor Andres “Dindo” Manhit, president of Stratbase ADR Institute.
A Stratbase-commissioned survey revealed that 85 percent of Filipinos want the next president to build on alliances in defending territorial and economic rights.
Manhit said the next leader should act and defend the country’s sovereign rights and assert its territorial integrity through stronger and more responsive foreign and security policies.
Moreover, Dr. Renato de Castro, trustee and program convenor of the Stratbase ADR Institute, said a national security strategy based on the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration should be formulated.
“The task of the next president is to come up with this grand strategy and present it to the public,” he said as he described President Duterte’s appeasement policy as merely agreeing to manage the dispute according to Chinese terms.