PH SolGen on 2016 Arbitral Award: ‘Enduring protection in a Republic of laws’

MANILA, Philippines — Solicitor General Darlene Berberabe, speaking at the DFA’s commemoration of the 2016 Arbitral Award, traces the history of the landmark case and speaks of what it wants to protect.

The Philippine government’s top lawyer, in the event’s keynote speech, pays tribute to agencies tasked to enforce the ruling — from maritime agencies who patrol the West Philippine Sea and escort Filipino fisherfolk to diplomats who file protests against Beijing.

“The Philippines asks of the law only what it gives…. We claimed our rights and in the same breath, honored everyone else’s. That is the conduct of a state that believes in the system it invoked,” she tells a room full of Filipino and foreign diplomats, as well as top Philippine officials on July 10.

Ten years ago on July 12, an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea handed an award that deemed invalid China’s sweeping claims over the South China Sea and affirmed the integrity of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that’s part of an area it calls the West Philippine Sea.

The Award, considered final and binding, is not recognized by Beijing. – Rappler.com

PH SolGen on 2016 Arbitral Award: ‘Enduring protection in a Republic of laws’