Arbitral court concludes hearing on Philippines vs. China case

Members of the Philippine delegation and foreign lawyers sent by the Philippines to the Peace Palace in Netherlands for the country’s jurisdiction and admissibility case against China (Photo courtesy of Valte)

MANILA – The Peace Palace in Netherlands concluded the hearing on the territorial disputes between the Philippines and China, regarding massive claims in the South China Sea.

“Today (July 14), the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands concluded the hearing on jurisdiction and admissibility of the Philippines’ claims against China,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a statement.

The Peace Palace held two rounds of hearings on the jurisdiction and admissibility case. The first round of oral arguments was held on July 7 and 8, where the Philippines presented its claims and sought if the arbitral tribunal had jurisdiction over the case. The second round of arguments was held soon after, where the country answered questions of the peace court.

“The hearing concluded with the second round of arguments conducted today for the Philippines to address additional and clarificatory questions from the Tribunal,” Valte said.

With the hearing concluded, the Philippines now has to submit written arguments to strengthen its answers to the Peace Palace’ questions. The country sought a favorable ruling from the arbitral tribunal; for China’s massive claims on the contested Spratly Islands be declared invalid.

“Even if it may just be a jurisdictional issue, every step of the way, every forward step that we take is important for us,” Valte earlier said in a press briefing.

Repeatedly citing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Philippines has been challenging China’s claims on numerous reefs on the South China Sea.

China, however, asserted that they would not participate in the legal arbitration case as they believed that ‘what the Philippines does is an obvious political provocation under the cloak of law.’

“By negating China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, the Philippines attempts to attain more illegal interests for itself and force China to make compromise on relevant issue,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokersperson Hua Chunying said in a press conference.

Even without China’s participation, the Peace Palace disclosed that it would release its resolution on the jurisdiction and admissibility case within this year.

“The arbitral tribunal now enters its deliberations and is conscious of its duty under the rules of procedure to conduct proceedings ‘to avoid unnecessary delay and expense and to provide a fair and efficient process,’” the five-member arbitral tribunal said.

“The arbitral tribunal will endeavor to issue its decision on such issues of jurisdiction and admissibility that it determines appropriate as soon as possible and expects to do so before the end of the year,” it added.