Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Friday criticized Malacañang and the House of Representatives for giving awards and honors to outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Manila Zhao Jianhua.
“Our national heroes who died defending our territory against foreign invaders must now be turning in their graves,” Carpio said during a gathering of lawyers who are graduates from the University of the Philippines College of Law.
Carpio, a UP alumnus, was the guest speaker for UP Law’s alumni homecoming at the Marriott Hotel in Pasay City.
In his speech, the former SC justice questioned the basis for President Duterte’s conferment of the Order of Sikatuna with the Rank of Datu on Zhao in October and the House of Representatives’ grant of a Congressional Medal of Achievement to the outgoing ambassador last Monday.
The Order of Sikatuna is an order of diplomatic merit conferred upon individuals who have rendered exceptional services to the Philippines.
The Palace acknowledged Zhao for his “vital role in a growing and more robust bilateral relationship between the Philippines and China.”
Zhao is set to end his five-year tour of duty in the Philippines this month.
The House of Representatives, on the other hand, commended Zhao for fostering “stronger bonds of very good friendship between the Philippines and China” which led to the “golden age of Philippines-China bilateral relations.”
The House leadership acknowledged Zhao for facilitating four state visits of President Rodrigo Duterte to China and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the Philippines in 2018, the first state visit by a Chinese president to the country in 13 years.
Under Zhao’s tour of duty, congressmen said China became the Philippines’ top trading partner and more Chinese tourists arrived in the country.
But Carpio lamented that in November 2018, Zhao wrote an article in The Philippine Star where he hailed China’s and the Philippines’ close geographic proximity and blood and cultural ties.
“Being separated by only a narrow strip of water, China and the Philippines have been close neighbors for centuries, sharing not only geographic proximity, but also blood bonds, cultural affinity and a long and sincere traditional friendship,” Zhao said, heralding the progress in Chinese-Philippine bilateral ties.
Carpio, who retired from the Supreme Court last month, has been advocating for the assertion of the country’s sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea. He is also a staunch critic of President Duterte for refusing to enforce the arbitral ruling.
“Ambassador Zhao was saying to the entire Filipino people, the Philippines and China are already close neighbors because the nine-dash line is China’s national boundary in the South China Sea, leaving the Philippines with only a sliver of water as its territorial sea and exclusive economic zone,” Carpio stressed.
“For this, Ambassador Zhao was conferred a congressional medal of achievement by our House of Representatives. Of course, our House of Representatives will just follow President Rodrigo Duterte who earlier conferred on Ambassador Zhao the Order of Sikatuna with the rank of datu,” he added.
China has defied the 2016 Arbitral Award promulgated by the Permanent Court of Arbitration which invalidated China’s excessive claims over the South China Sea under its nine-dash-line demarcation and upheld Manila’s exclusive economic zone, including the West Philippine Sea.
The former SC magistrate insisted that there are several ways to enforce the arbitral tribunal’s ruling without having to resort to war, the prospect of which President Duterte often cites in justifying his position.
“The Duterte administration however has chosen to put aside the arbitral ruling in exchange for loans and investments from China. These loans and investments have not been coming as promised, as admitted by Foreign Secretary Teddyboy Locsin,” he said in his speech.
Meanwhile, Carpio said he believes China will comply with the arbitral ruling in the South China Sea with the Memorandum of Understanding it signed with the Philippines on joint oil and gas exploration.
"Yes, I believe so, and to quote Secretary Teddyboy Locsin: 'We are almost there,'" Carpio said.
During a visit in Manila in November 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping signed the MOU on joint cooperation to explore and exploit oil and gas in the West Philippine Sea despite its position that Beijing would never recognize Manila's arbitral victory.
The 2016 ruling by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration invalidated Beijing nine-dash line doctrine, its basis for claiming more than 80 percent of the South China Sea.
Carpio said the Terms of Reference to implement the MOU have been signed by both countries and the steering committee already had its first meeting in Beijing last week.
Under the MOU and TOR, Carpio said China through its state-owned commercial enterprise China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) will participate in exploring and extracting oil and gas in the West Philippine Sea as a service contractor or through service contractor of the Philippine government.
"A service contractor acknowledges that the oil and gas belong to the Philippine Government. A service contractor does not claim to be the owner of the oil and gas, otherwise it will not just be a service contractor if it believes it owns the oil and gas," Carpio said.
Through the MOU, TOR and the service contract, Carpio said this should be sufficient to protect the sovereign rights of the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea.
"As long as we stick to the MOU and TOR, which recognize the service contract as the mode of cooperation between the Philippines and China, we do not compromise our sovereign rights.
He also does not see the need to demand China to expressly waive in writing any claim to sovereign rights within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone in the West Philippine Sea.
"We cannot expect China to expressly admit in writing to its own people that the historical narrative that the Chinese government taught them for the last 70 years is totally false. We have to help China make a face-saving exit before its own people without, however, compromising our own sovereign rights," he added.