Our new ‘Wonder Boys’ — Batman and Robin

Forget Alan Peter Cayetano. Forget Teresita de Castro – the wonder boys are coming to save the Philippines. Batman and Robin are on their way!

On Justice Antonio Carpio: It was out of delicadeza that Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio declined his nomination for the chief justice post last June after the ouster of Ma. Lourdes Sereno. He said that he did not want to benefit from what happened to Sereno which he opposed by dissenting from the court’s final ruling on the much talked about quo warranto case.

When Teresita Leonardo-de Castro was appointed as chief justice, there were talks going around that her appointment was a reward for her battle against Sereno. Of course, President Duterte was quick to deny this and said that he would base his appointment on seniority.

After the retirement of De Castro, Carpio was nominated. And after being bypassed for the position twice in 2010 and 2012, he accepted the nomination. There are now three senior Supreme Court justices vying for the chief justice position. The other two are Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta and Lucas Bersamin. But as of press time, only Carpio has submitted his acceptance letter.

When Carpio was acting chief justice, he vowed to pursue his stance on the country’s territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea that has been contrary to the position of the Duterte administration – even if it would cost him a possible appointment as chief justice.

He believes that fighting for sovereignty of the country is more important than being appointed to the top Supreme Court (SC) post. In an interview with CNN Philippines, he said, “What is more important for the nation is that we preserve our sovereignty and sovereign rights because if we lose this, we lose that forever. That’s far more important than any position.”

Carpio seems to be the last star fighter on the West Philippine Sea issues. Here are some highlights of his presentations:

(1) “Fake News of the 21st Century” – is the claim of China that the South China Sea has been theirs for the past 2,000 years. The Philippines through Justice Carpio refuted China’s claim using old maps that define the territory of the Philippines and that of China. The oldest map was in the 12th century or almost 1,000 years ago. The southernmost part of China is the Hainan Island (East of North Vietnam) and the Paracels Islands nearby. Our victory with the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands on 13 July 2016 invalidates the claim of China with 9-dash-line that would take away 80% of our 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The total area of our EEZ is even bigger than the entire area of the Philippines at 300,000 sq. kms.

(2) China seized Mischief Reef in 1995. However, the Chinese began building there earlier in the early 1990s after the US left their bases in the Philippines. (Former National Security Adviser Jose Almonte confirmed it in a recent interview last April 2018. They learned about it when a Filipino fisherman escaped from the Chinese who held him captive.) The Chinese have built artificial islands from the seven reefs in the Spratlys (West of Palawan island). They now have three runways (3.0 kms long) in three islands and a harbour in Mischief Reef for their battleships. The construction began in 2014 after the Philippines filed the case with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, knowing that they will not win the case. The Spratly Islands is just too far from China and very close to Palawan. Thus, China’s claim is too far out and out of this world. We have the Pag-asa Island in the Spratlys where there is natural habitation and over a hundred people and with its elected Mayor.

 (3) Since the Philippine victory with the Arbitration Court in The Hague last 13 July 2016, the Duterte administration has NOT asserted our sovereign rights and jurisdiction in our 200-mile EEZ. President Duterte has put our victory in the back-burner in favor of aid and investments from China. Joint-venture exploration of the South China Sea for oil and gas within our EEZ cannot be done since it is against our Constitution.

(4) Foreign western nations have implemented the Right of Navigation in our EEZ with their aircraft carriers, battleships and frigates passing through. The United States, United Kingdom, France and Australia have done it for the Philippines. The importance of the South China Sea is that the value of global commerce that passes there every year is estimated at $3.5 trillion.

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The new Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary is Teddyboy Locsin Jr.. Who doesn’t know Teddyman? A lawyer, businessman, former congressman, journalist and now the former UN ambassador. He served as speechwriter and press secretary of the late president Corazon Aquino and was the publisher and editor-in-chief of Today newspaper from 1993 to 2005.

I really don’t know what Cayetano did during his stint in the DFA. Even if he claimed otherwise, I did not see any clear cut protest against China’s claim to the West Philippine Sea. And even while Hague had ruled with finality, Cayetano continues to call it a “disputed” matter. Talk about how weak this former senator now vying for house speakership has become through the years. Let’s not even talk about his plight for the OFWs because clearly nothing has improved under his command. I’m just so happy that the force behind the new DFA Secretary will be evident this time. We need to improve foreign relations and assert our ground in the world. Our ship is sinking. We surely need the “wonder boys.”

Locsin said, “I will be Secretary of Foreign Affairs which includes the UN; I will have a direct hand until the architecture of sovereign independence in all matters of state that my team started to erect is remitted.” And I believe him unless the President messes this up.

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If Carpio is appointed chief justice, will he and the new DFA Secretary be our wonder boys (just like Batman and Robin) in protecting our land, our sovereignty by resurrecting and strengthening our claim on the West Philippine Sea? Abangan!