Carpio: Philippines should file extended continental shelf claim facing South China Sea

The Philippines should file a claim for an extended continental shelf facing the South China Sea to reinforce its arbitral victory against China, retired Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio said Monday. 

Following President Rodrigo Duterte's invocation of the 2016 arbitral ruling before the United Nations General Assembly last week, Manila can "walk the talk" by filing the claim as neighbors Vietnam and Malaysia have done, Carpio said. 

Carpio said that the Philippines already filed an extended continental shelf claim in Benham Rise, located east of the country, and faced no opposition. 

"We should do the same in the South China Sea," he told ANC. "We should be doing it by now."

He said the basis for the claim is that the Philippines has an exclusive economic zone (EEZ). From the edge of the EEZ, there is a 150-nautical mile extended continental shelf, he said. 

Carpio said such claims are filed before the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and need no consent from any state. 

Though China would be a "possible oppositor," it would have no basis because the arbitral ruling is on the Philippines' side, he said. 

By filing a claim, the Philippines will be "fortifying" the ruling, said Carpio, a leading expert on and a staunch advocate for the Philippines' maritime entitlements. 

"The Constitution says we must protect our maritime zones and this is to protect our maritime zones," the retired magistrate said. 

In 2016, the Hague-based arbitral tribunal ruled that China has no historical rights to its "nine-dash line" claim in the South China Sea. 

China has continually rejected the ruling. —KG, GMA News