MANILA – Senior Associate justice Antonio Carpio said the verbal deal between President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping allowing Chinese fishermen to trawl within Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ) was “unconstitutional and lopsided.”
Carpio added Filipinos would be at the losing end of the verbal deal aside from there is no official policy giving China the rights to explore the country’s EEZ such as the Reed Bank.
“Secretary Locsin knows that there is no recorded minute of the so-called verbal agreement between President Xi and President Duterte allowing the Chinese to fish in Reed Bank in exchange for Filipinos fishing in Scarborough Shoal,” Carpio said, referring to Department of Foreign Affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin.
“This verbal agreement, aside from being clearly against the Constitution, is so lopsided it should be rejected by the Philippine government,” he added.
“Any such verbal agreement, if confirmed by the Philippine government, will bind the Philippines to allow the Chinese to fish in Reed Bank for as long as China allows Filipinos to fish in Scarborough Shoal,” Carpio said.
He added Reed Bank is within Philippine EEZ and the Constitution states that the “use and enjoyment” of the fish and other natural resources within Philippine EEZ is “reserved exclusively for Filipinos.”
“China has the largest fishing fleet in the world with huge modern trawlers. The Filipinos only have wooden boats with outriggers. The Chinese can deplete the fish in Reed Bank very quickly,” Carpio said.
He added that the Reed Bank is 8,660 sq. km in area, while Scarborough Shoal is only 150 sq. km in area. Filipinos can only fish outside the lagoon of Scarborough Shoal, not inside the lagoon which is a rich fishing resource./PN
