Justice Carpio explains why Scarborough Shoal has become a legal and strategic “red line” in the South China Sea dispute, rooted in Philippine historic rights, UNCLOS entitlements, and international opposition to China’s enhanced claims and potential militarization.
Justice Carpio explains how policy shifts and rhetoric by President Duterte—including moves toward VFA abrogation and reduced joint military cooperation—have weakened deterrence and the Philippines’ defenses in the West Philippine Sea, undermining constitutional duties to protect maritime sovereign rights.
Global Theft of the Global Commons — Justice Antonio T. Carpio’s 2014 lecture analyzing China’s 9‑dashed‑line claims in the South China Sea as a “grand theft” of humanity’s shared maritime heritage. A legal critique based on UNCLOS, sovereignty, and the concept of the high seas as global commons.