"How Justice Carpio could make such a fundamental error in opinion in a formal discussion before the court is simply shocking."
At the last round of the Supreme Court oral arguments last Oct. 9 on the Philippine withdrawal from the International Criminal Court initiated by President Rodrigo Duterte, acting Supreme Court Chief Justice Antonio Carpio argued that by doing so, the Philippines has deprived itself of the only court to defend its rights in case China launches an invasion of the Philippines’ claimed islands or it sets up military facilities at the Scarborough Shoals.
However, Carpio never took the mater that the ICC would never get to act on any petition against China as it has veto power in the UN Security Council where any ICC case would be first referred to.
How a justice of the Supreme Court could make such a fundamental error in opinion in a formal discussion before the court is simply shocking.
Moreover, Carpio made other errors such as in saying that a recourse to the ICC offers a “very strong” deterrent against possible invasion of the West Philippine Sea when in the first place the most effective deterrent has been what President Duterte has been doing—engaging China in peaceful dialogue and negotiations, and potentially engage China in joint exploration and eventually development of resources in the disputed areas.
For a member of the Supreme Court, Justice Carpio has long behaved inordinately, showing undue involvement with issues not yet raised before the court and now one of these is carried into that forum. Justice Carpio has long been faulted for “extrajudicial” forays into matters that have not been brought to the court but could be, like the issues involving the Philippines’ and China’s claims over portions of the South China Sea which the Philippines has legislated into the West Philippine Sea.
Carpio has created a dilemma for himself in having been so involved in the SCS matters outside the court that now creates credibility issues when he raises the issues in the court.
Carpio’s public involvement in the SCS issues has already created the impression that this is a personal and pet issue of his. Worse is the association with pro-American elements this has created.
That is, the close links Carpio is seen to have established with American funded institutions such as the CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies) which the American independent media NGO Fairness and Accuracy InReporting describes as “Think Tank Funded by Gov’t and Arms Industry” in the US and the CSIS supported Albert del Rosario Institute of the American green card holder and Noynoy Aquino’s DFA secretary Albert del Rosario.
That Justice Carpio would raise these weak arguments in the oral argumentation which was certain to be splashed in media raises some questions. They coincide with blatantly clear provocation and psy-war operations of the US in proposing a military/naval exercise in the SCS all the way up to the Straits of Taiwan in time for President Xi Jinping’s visit to President Duterte here in the Philippines when many all important agreements fulfilling the $24-billion investment commitments of China will be signed. The known American-leaning writers have also been very active at their work putting PH-China cooperation in a bad light.
Did Carpio use the Supreme Court oral arguments on the ICC issue as a forum to inject anti-China propaganda in a coordinated effort to becloud the atmosphere leading up to the President Duterte and President Xi Jinping meeting in November? To becloud the atmosphere the US has scheduled a military/naval exercise in the SCS leading all the way up to the Taiwan Straits, inviting the Philippines to participate along with Japan and other US treaty allies. News reports in local media alarmed Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua.
Duterte has actually been constrained to announce that the Philippines will not be joining any US military exercises with its allies, and assured Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua that the Philippines will not be taking part in the US proposed exercise. The Asia Times also featured two articles creating misinformation about PH-China projects, i.e. Mindanao writer Bong Sarmiento’s “China leaves Duterte dream train at the station” and Richard Heydarian’s “US, Philippines tacitly realign against China” and Jason Castañeda’s “Duterte creating cracks in his military’s command”. All these three articles smack of disinformation prior to the November Xi visit to Duterte.
My response to the three articles: President Xi Jinping and President Rodrigo R. Duterte are signing the $3.5-billion Manila-to-Matnog 600-kilometer train project development loan at 2-percent interest rate that will revive the legendary “Bicol Express,” while the Mindanao projects are scheduled for finalization in Package 2 mid-2018. The rejection of US enticement for the PH to join its military exercise and the PH’s participation in the China-Asean military exercise recently should make clear that the PH continues its independent foreign and military policies.
Lastly, Duterte’s crackdown on the attempted “Red October” consolidates the unity of the government and its military forces.