Carpio: PH should ask int'l tribunal to set ground rules on fishing in Scarborough Shoal

Retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Wednesday recommended for the Philippine government to seek help from the international tribunal to lay the ground rules on fishing for Filipino, Chinese, and Vietnamese fishermen in Scarborough Shoal. 

In a television interview, Carpio said the Philippines must first propose setting the ground rules with China and Vietnam when it comes to fishing activities in the Scarborough Shoal, considering that the Hague-based tribunal earlier ruled that the shoal is a common fishing ground among the three countries. 

"What we should do is to lay the ground rules because we must determine how many tons per year can each side catch at their end. We also have to allow the fish to recover. There will be a fishing season and an off season for fishing," he told ANC. 

"We should propose that to China and to Vietnam. If they don't agree, then we go to the tribunal and ask the tribunal to fix the ground rules based on our recommendations, because otherwise, China will be dictating the terms and we are at the losing end," he added. 

"We should proactively now propose the ground rules."

The Philippine government sued China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2013. The Court ruled in favor of the Philippines in July 2016 when it junked China's nine-dash claim over the South China Sea.

In the same ruling, the court deemed Scarborough Shoal as a common fishing ground and outlawed China's aggressions against Filipino fishermen there, including preventing Filipino fishermen from accessing the shoal. 

Carpio said that should there already be ground rules for fishing in the Scarborough Shoal, the Philippines could ask its foreign allies such as the United States to help enforce such rules.

"We will now apply the ground rules and we will ask our allies like the US to support us in enforcing the ground rules because these are ground rules that are prescribed by the tribunal. Right now, we cannot enforce any ground rules because there is none," he explained. 

The China Coast Guard’s (CCG) on Saturday fired water cannon at the vessels of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) headed to Scarborough Shoal, locally known as Bajo de Masinloc, to distribute oil and other supplies to fishermen in the area.

A day after, the CCG also used water cannon against Philippine vessels on a routine resupply and rotation mission to the BRP Sierra Madre stationed at the Ayungin Shoal. 

Code of conduct

Caprio also said he is "very skeptical" about the possibility of crafting a code of conduct (COC) between the Philippines and China to avoid further encounters in the West Philippine Sea. 

"I am very skeptical about the code of conduct because the code of conduct will simply be used by China to legitimize its island-building, to legitimize the air and naval bases that it has established and will establish," he said. 

The former SC senior associate justice stressed that the Philippines' arbitral award should thus be included in the COC, but doubts that China would agree to it because it would refute its 10-dash line. 

"I have no hope at all that a code of conduct will materialize. But it’s good to talk about it and use it in a forum just to discuss. But we should not put our hopes and too much energy on the code of conduct,” Carpio added. 

Last month, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said he hopes that the Philippines and China would come up with a COC-like document to prevent "escalation or hostilities" in the South China Sea, part of which was the West Philippine Sea. —KBK, GMA Integrated News