Carpio proposes arbitration, joint patrols after Scarborough incident

Retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio on Thursday advised taking China to an arbitration court and conducting joint patrols with some countries, including the United States, following an incident involving a Chinese vessel at the Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippine Sea. 

Carpio told ANC that the government may seek arbitration in order to compel China to agree on ground rules in Scarborough Shoal, a traditional fishing ground for Filipino, Chinese, and Vietnamese fishermen.

"The first thing to do is agree on the ground rules: how many tons of fish can each party take within the year because we don't want to overfish. There must be ground rules. China even refuses to discuss this," he said when asked what the next president can do to force Beijing to respect the 2016 arbitral ruling declaring the shoal a common fishing ground.

"What we can do is bring another case to compel China to agree to ground rules. We will quantify the losses of our fishermen already because our fishermen cannot freely fish there. We will quantify the losses and claim damages against China for these losses."

Carpio said that Vietnam, which also claims a portion of the South China Sea, should be included in the arbitration process.

"We can ask Vietnam to join us in that arbitration so we will get more countries on our side. This is really a question of getting world opinion on your side because there is no world policeman to enforce the ruling. We can isolate China by getting the world opinion on our side very clearly and that should be our game plan," he said.

The retired magistrate said the Philippines should conduct joint patrols in the South China Sea with other countries.

"We should do a joint patrol not only with the US but with other countries like Malaysia and Vietnam. We will jointly patrol in the West Philippine Sea and also in their exclusive economic zone, in Vietnam and in Malaysia. Even ask Indonesia to join," Carpio said.

"If you band together you will have a stronger position. China wants a bilateral dispute, it doesn't want to internationalize the dispute because it will be isolated."

On Monday, China maintained that it has sovereign rights over the Scarborough Shoal after the Philippine Coast Guard reported a “close distance maneuvering” incident involving a Chinese vessel in the area earlier this month.

In response, Malacañang on Tuesday maintained that the Philippines "continues to exercise full sovereignty over Bajo de Masinloc and its territorial sea, as well as sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the surrounding exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf."

The Philippines has already filed a diplomatic protest with China over the incident.

China continues to ignore the arbitral ruling that invalidated its expansive claims over the South China Sea, a portion of which Manila refers to as the West Philippine Sea. —Joviland Rita/VBL, GMA News