The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands has received and confirmed the appointment of four Filipinos as members of the court upon the recommendation of Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Enrique Manalo.
(Photos courtesy of Department of Foreign Affairs)
In a statement on Thursday, Jan. 4, the DFA named Dr. Raul Pangalangan, Prof. Sedfrey Candelaria, Dr. Antonio Gabriel M. La Viña and Philippine Ambassador J. Eduardo Malaya as the new members of the PCA.
This is in pursuant to the 1899 and 1907 Hague Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, wherein each member-state was allowed to appoint a maximum of four individuals “who possess exceptional expertise in international law who will be included in the list of those who are available to serve as arbitrators under the auspices of the PCA for a term of six years.”
“Additionally, the members of the Court appointed by each member-state shall comprise its national group, which grants them the privilege to nominate candidates for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and propose candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize, in collaboration with the ICJ judges,” the statement added.
The Philippines’ four members are luminaries of international law.
Pangalangan, a professor of law at the University of the Philippines, is former judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) from 2015 to 2021, while Candelaria, a professor of law at the Ateneo de Manila University, is chief of Office of the Research, Publications and Linkages of the Office of the Philippine Judicial Academy.
La Viña is former member of the PCA’s Specialized Panel of Arbitrators and Experts for environmental disputes from 2016 to 2022 and is currently associate director for Climate Policy and International Relations of the Manila Observatory.
Malaya is the current Philippine ambassador to the Netherlands and the acting president of the PCA Administrative Council for the term 2023 to 2024.
The new members will meet at the Congress of the Members of the Court, which will convene in June 2024 as part of the activities for the PCA's 125th anniversary this year.
This will only be the third time in history when the Members of the Court of the PCA from the different member-states “will gather and chart the future of the organization.”
The first meeting was during the first Hague Peace Conference in 1899 and the second was during the centennial of the PCA in 1999.
Malaya, who presided over the Administrative Council meeting last Dec. 18, cited the milestones achieved by the PCA in 2023.
Most notably, he commended the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) of a first time ever resolution which recognized the "important contribution of the PCA to the peaceful settlement of disputes."
This resolution, which was an initiative of the Philippine Embassy in The Hague and the Philippine Mission to the UN in New York, was adopted by consensus, with sponsorship from 121 UN member-states.
During the Dec. 18 Council Meeting, PCA Secretary-General Marcin Czepelak expressed gratitude to Malaya for “his tireless efforts and creativity in promoting peaceful dispute resolution through the PCA.”
The PCA is the first and foremost permanent inter-governmental organization that provides a forum for the resolution of international disputes through arbitration and other peaceful means.
It is the same court awarded the Philippines its arbitral win over China’s nine-dash line theory that claims the entire South China Sea, including the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs), in 2016.