The Permanent Court of Arbitration’s (PCA) head magistrate paid a courtesy call on President Marcos at Malacañang Palace on Thursday in an encounter that is widely seen as a reaffirmation of the international tribunal’s support for the Philippines’ claim over portions of the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
PCA Secretary General Marcin Czepelak is touring the Philippines as part of the global dispute resolution body’s activities for its 125th anniversary.
During their meeting Mr. Marcos assured his visitor that the Philippines will continue adhere to international law.
The Philippine leader cited the importance of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), which he said is a vital part of Philippine foreign policy considering all the present challenges it faces.
“The Permanent Court of Arbitration is an important part of our foreign policy considering all the challenges that we are facing right now. And our continuing adherence to international law,” the President told Czepelak.
For his part, Czepelak, a Polish jurist and former ambassador of Poland to the Netherlands, expressed interest in exploring the potential for establishing a Host Country Agreement (HCA) with the Philippines to facilitate PCA hearings within the nation.
“It is my first time (to visit the Philippines) and it is fantastic experience to be able to, first, I meet a lot of people and then I’m allowed to even visit some places. And I’m very happy that you found the time,” the visiting PCA told his host.
In a statement, Malacañang said Czepelak’s visit “offers a valuable opportunity to highlight the Philippines’ commitment to international law, peaceful dispute resolution, and the PCA, as well as to congratulate the Arbitral Court on its 125th anniversary.”
As this developed, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) welcomed the United States military’s offer to escort Philippine ships in delivering much-needed supplies to outposts in disputed areas of the WPS.
However, AFP Chief-of-Staff General Romeo Brawner, Jr. told US counterparts that the Philippines would rather rely on its own capabilities despite China’s unceasing efforts to block Philippine vessels conducting Rotation and Reprovision (RoRe) missions to distant outposts.
“We’re happy that the United States has given us a lot of options, including that of joining or escorting us for the voyage,” Brawner said.
“But as I said earlier, we are going to do the mission unilaterally,” he maintained.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro told lawmakers during a budget hearing on Thursday that options or proposals for joint naval operations with allies must first be approved by the members of National Maritime Council (NMC).
“It just adds one option to us, one option in our toolkit that we can use in case it is necessary. However, that proposal we’ll have to go to the National Maritime Council and discuss in the council and approve, if ever.” He said.
“We will depend on ourselves first and we will try to exhaust all the options first before asking for help. After we exhaust all the options and nothing works, then, that’s the time we can ask for help,” Brawner on the other hand explained.
On Tuesday, US Indo-Pacific Command Chief Admiral Samuel Paparo Jr. who is in the country to attend the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board meeting in Baguio City, said having US ships escort Philippine vessels on resupply missions in the WPS is “an entirely reasonable option within our Mutual Defense Treaty.”
“But what we do now, based on our guidelines, our operational commanders have all the necessary authority under the discretion in order to secure in order to execute resupply missions in areas within their jurisdictions, of course with notification with NMC.” Teodoro explained to the lawmakers.
