Retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Thursday declared he will not seek public office but instead will focus on protecting the country’s interests in the West Philippine Sea.
Many parts of the area are being claimed by China through its nine-dash-line demarcation over the South China Sea, where $5.4 trillion worth of goods transit.
“I really don’t have an inclination. First of all, you have to spend billions of pesos and that’s not my cup of coffee,” Carpio told the ABS-CBN news channel.
“It’s a no, because my mission is to implement, to enforce the arbitral ruling [of the United Nations], and with that I’ll be happy,”
Carpio said he would support a 2022 presidential candidate who will share his stance on the maritime issue.
“If I believe that it’s necessary for the enforcement of the ruling, for the protection of the West Philippine Sea, I will support a candidate who will be in sync with what I’m doing,” he said.
Carpio, who retired from the Supreme Court after 18 years of service on Oct. 26, had said earlier he would concentrate most of his post-retirement time advocating the enforcement of the 2016 Arbitral Award rendered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in favor of the Philippines, and which rejected China’s massive claims over the South China Sea and approved Manila’s exclusive economic zone, including the West Philippines Sea.
Carpio played a crucial role in the Philippines’ filing of the arbitration case against China before the PCA. He has also been giving lectures around the world on the issue, which he said he would continue to do.
“In the Philippines, 93 percent of the Filipino people want the arbitral ruling asserted,” Carpio told reporters on Tuesday.
“I still have to work on President [Rodrigo] Duterte and the remaining 7 percent of the Filipino people. At age 70, I plan to spend most of my remaining waking hours defending our sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea.”