International Arbitration Court
Ruling favors the Philippines’ claim on the (West Philippine Sea) Scarborough
Shoal.
According to DLSU professor
Richard Heydarian on Foreign Affairs/Economic Analyst the verdict
of the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal is binding – especially to the members
of the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on Laws of the Seas). Philippines and
China are among the consenting signatory members.
The decision gave us OFFICIAL
LEGAL CLAIM over the disputed territories. However, it was mentioned by
Prof. Heydarian that it was just a Court and NO ENFORCEMENT capability. The advantage is that the allied members of
UNCLOS know about it, we can somehow expect backing.
Gauging the current situation in
the disputed territories where China
has built a lot of structures and has assigned naval forces to monitor therein (EVEN
WITHOUT THE INTERNATIONAL RULING on who is the rightful owner) it would not be
an EASY task. President Duterte does not
want to make a severe move on this but instead plans to have BILATERAL meeting
with the Chinese Officials, as of this date DFA Sec. Perfecto Yasay and former
President Fidel V. Ramos are among his choices of diplomats to work on this.
Us, becoming excited and be sending our diplomats to negotiate is like kneeling
in front of them. The decision is in our favor, they must have felt some
humiliation.
I was wondering, when the UNCLOS
was established is not there a CLEAR RULING
on implementation and enforcement of the verdicts this international
arbitration court will release? IF THERE IS NONE – I would consider the
institution will not be that EFFECTIVE. I consider the UNCLOS half-worthy
because its duty lies only in JUDICIAL PROCESS being just a court and INFORMING
the members of the final verdict. Is not there Forces (is it not a police
matter?! –the InterPol) to implement mandatory evacuation for the squatters?!
Is not there an International Security Force to do the job instead of us
directly claiming what is ours, to avoid more conflict? Is it not like an ordinary Court that can
issue ‘Court Order’ to HAND BACK the territory to its LEGAL OWNER?!
Funny but is there not? We can be assured that UNCLOS can make more decisions
in the future BUT will be deemed USELESS unless without IMPLEMENTATING BODY. It
was just like a toothless LAW and VERDICT. Is not there a law or punishment
dictated in the UNCLOS once an allied country disrespects the court?
No
offense to Chinese officials who had accused us that we had bribed the IAC, they should have
been open-minded and should have attended the hearing so that whatever reasons
the Court has founded their ruling they would have understood. There is no reason for IAC to favor us in
terms of POWER – they are far more influential than we are.
If we will not make any move
China will add more improvements in
the territories and extract more of its
natural resources to our disadvantage.
Even the small fishermen will still be thrown away.
BUT if there is an INTERNATIONAL
IMPLEMENTING BODY or at least a ‘COURT
ORDER’ from the International Arbitrary Court to be served by its officials
to China – it may be the BEST option. No security risk on our part. We would not need to bargain for our RIGHTS –
what to expect IF we do the negotiations? We may have LITTLE gain (or just
leftovers) from a supposed-to-be RICH natural resources.
We are hoping that China will
respect the FINAL VERDICT and not all of its Government officials have the same
view as the public official (?) who have speculated irregularities in the
proceedings as shown in the news. More importantly, we hope that China will
realize that UNCLOS members will be very
much anticipating their reaction – if
they will RESIST and ignore the International Arbitration Court’s Ruling. This
will gauge their gracious
or their antagonistic behavior that MAY bring BAD IMPRESSION not just to
UNCLOS members but also to worldwide spectators – the contributors to their
economy.
Video Links : Ruling Issued by Arbitral Tribunal on West Phil. Sea
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