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PH preparing charges vs China over WPS coral destruction — Carpio
PH preparing charges vs China over WPS coral destruction — Carpio
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is now preparing to file charges against and seek damages from China over its destruction of the marine environment in the West Philippine Sea, former Supreme Court (SC) associate justice Antonio Carpio bared on Wednesday, March 6.
His pronouncement was a confirmation of previous reports that the DOJ was already eyeing to hold China accountable for the extensive damage of Rozul Reef and Escoda Shoal.
"The DOJ is actually now preparing a case on the damage to the coral reef system," Carpio, who has extensively researched about the West Philippine Sea and its case, said.
"So, we will ask for damages because the coral reefs are where the fish breath and without the coral reefs, there will be no fish in the South China Sea," he added.
The Philippines will seek a tribunal ruling on its case against China, Carpio said.
It will be its second tribunal case against Beijing. The other one was filed in 2012, which eventually ruled that China's various claims in the West Philippine Sea were unlawful.
The new arbitral case will be different from the first one, which can hardly be enforced by the Philippines, according to Carpio.
The new complaint will now seek monetary damages from China for its activities that have left the seabed lifeless.
How will the Philippines enforce the decision if it goes in its favor is that the government might not pay the loans that Beijing already gave for the Chico and Kaliwa Dam projects to compensate for what it owes Manila.
"We have other loans from China. We can offset because China owes us money, we owe China money, that will be legal compensation, of off-setting. That's how we can collect," Carpio said.
Meanwhile, he said, the newly-adopted High Seas Treaty might also be cited by the Philippines to counter China's claim over the West Philippine Sea.
"China claims all waters within the 10-dash line as its national territory. That includes the high seas," he said.
"So they're claiming the high seas of the South China Sea as their national territory, which is against UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea). against international law, against the High Seas Treaty," he added.
Carpio said the Philippines must push other countries to eventually come up with the scope of the High Seas Treaty.
Then, if the pact would declare that high seas do not include the South China Sea, then it would counter China's territorial claim over it, he added.