Delivered before the Philippine Women’s Judges Association, Justice Antonio T. Carpio spoke on the urgent need to protect the Philippines’ marine wealth in the West Philippine Sea, emphasizing that safeguarding the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a constitutional obligation. Under the 1987 Constitution, the state must protect its marine resources and reserve their use and enjoyment exclusively for Filipino citizens.
To fulfill this mandate, the Philippines filed an arbitration case against China under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The case challenges China’s “9-dashed line” claim and seeks to secure the Philippines’ rights over 80% of its EEZ in the West Philippine Sea, including strategic areas such as the Reed Bank and Malampaya, as well as its extended continental shelf.
Justice Carpio clarified key distinctions under UNCLOS: maritime disputes involve interpretation of maritime zones such as territorial seas, EEZs, and continental shelves, while territorial disputes concern sovereignty over land, islands, or rocks above water at high tide. The Philippines’ arbitration case is strictly maritime, addressing issues such as whether rocks, low-tide elevations (LTEs), and certain islands generate full EEZs. For example:
- Scarborough Shoal, 124 NM from Zambales, consists of non-habitable rocks generating only a 12 NM territorial sea.
- LTEs like Mischief Reef and Subi Reef lie within the Philippines’ EEZ and are subject to Philippine sovereign rights.
- Islands in the Spratlys, including Itu Aba, are too small and dependent to generate their own EEZs.
Carpio exposed the inconsistencies in China’s historical claims and maps, showing that assertions like Scarborough Shoal being part of historical China or James Shoal as China’s southernmost territory are legally and physically invalid. He emphasized that UNCLOS extinguished historical rights beyond a coastal state’s 200 NM EEZ and prohibits any claim of such rights over another state’s EEZ or continental shelf.
Finally, he warned against China’s joint development proposals, noting that such arrangements would require the Philippines to recognize China’s “indisputable sovereignty” and would effectively cede the country’s exclusive rights to exploit its own marine resources—an unconstitutional act. Justice Carpio concluded that pursuing arbitration is essential to uphold the Constitution and reserve the use and enjoyment of the Philippines’ EEZ exclusively for Filipinos, reinforcing the country’s sovereign and legal rights over its maritime zones.