The Philippines would not get the support of the United Nations (UN) with regards to its concerns against China in the West Philippine Sea, former Supreme Court associate justice Francis Jardeleza believed so.
Jardeleza on Tuesday rejected the idea of bringing up to the UN cases of harassment committed by China against Philippine personnel in the waters as he said they "would not even get past the Security Council."
"Because there's a veto [power]," he said at the Kapihan sa Manila Hotel moderated by former senator Joey Lina and communications secretary Sonny Coloma.
The council, which generally has the mandate over actions UN could make, has 15 members. These include the five permanent ones, including China. A UNSC decision would be rejected if one of the member countries uses its veto power.
Jardeleza, who as Solicitor General served as the government's chief legal counsel during the Aquino administration, said this option was already pursued previously but did not prosper.
"We have been through this... Thirteen years ago, when the first incident in Scarborough Shoal, [former] president Aquino was already confronted with this issue, the first solution was break in the United Nations," he said.
What the government might do is to raise its concern over the international body's Uniting for Peace Resolution.
According to UN documents, the resolution's purpose is to "resolve that if the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace... the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately with a view to making appropriate recommendations to Members for collective measures."
"But the problem is that was used only once" in 1948 when the UN mediated in the conflict between Israel and neighboring Arab countries during the Arab-Israeli war, Jardeleza said.
Meanwhile, Jardeleza said China was only "triggering" other nations when it released its 2023 standard map, that lays claim to the territories of the Philippines and six other countries.
He said the Philippines should not mind China's new map; and just continue filing diplomatic protests over it and not seek another arbitration case that is related to sovereignty, Jardeleza added.
"Ang China ay palagay ko nangiinis, sapagkat, nanalo na tayo sa kaso. Ang kaso natin, sabi nila meron silang nine-dash line, pero natalo sila, [kaya] may bago nanaman sila, 10-dash line (I think China was only triggering other countries, because we already won the nine-dash line case. China lost, that's why they introduced the 10-dash line)," he said.
"Itong latest move ng China ay 'wag natin pansinin in a sense na wag natin magdalos dalos na mag-file ng new case questioning the 10-dash line, kasi nanalo na tayo sa nine-dash line (Let's not mind China's latest move in a sense that we should file a new arbitration case questioning its 10-dash line, because we already won the nine-dash line)," he added.
The former solicitor general gave advice to just let other countries file their own new case.