MANILA – Malacañang branded as “futile exercise” the filing of case before the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Chinese President Xi Jinping due to the South China Sea row.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said while Former foreign secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales have the right to file a complaint, it is headed to dismissal since the China is not part of ICC.
“The filing of the complaint may be a futile exercise,” Panelo said in a statement. “They may have the right to file the complaint against (Xi) before the ICC as individuals over a perceived violation committed against their country or their countrymen.”
He added: “They could be motivated with righteous indignation over the establishment of structures on some parts of the South China Sea which have been ruled to be rightfully belonging to us. To their minds, the establishment of those structures endanger the environment as well as our fishermen.”
Panelo said if ever the case against Xi is dismissed for “lack of jurisdiction,” critics will have a field day criticizing the President Rodrigo Duterte once again due to country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute.
“We reiterate, however, that the Philippines under the Duterte administration is engaged in a diplomatic negotiation, through a bilateral consultation mechanism (BCM), over the West Philippine Sea issue,” the Palace official added.
Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales filed a suit against Xi and other Chinese officials before the ICC due to China’s activities to gain control over most parts of the South China Sea.
According to Del Rosario, China’s moves to restrict access to areas in the sea has “seriously undermined the food and energy security of the coastal states in the South China Sea, including the Philippines.”
“The situation is both unique and relevant because it presents one of the most massive, near permanent and devastating destruction of the environment in humanity’s history,” Del Rosario said in a statement.
He added: “It adversely affects and injures not only myriad groups of vulnerable fishermen, including 320,000 Filipino fishermen, but also present and future generations of people across nations.”
The Philippines challenged its claim on the sea before an international arbitral tribunal, which ruled in favor of Manila in July 2016 and invalidated China’s claim but the latter has ignored the ruling./PN
