PH should reject ‘lopsided,’ unconstitutional verbal fishing deal with China — Justice Carpio

FILE: Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio. (Photo by CSIS | Center for Strategic & International Studies/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Thursday, July 4, called on the Philippine government to not agree with the supposed verbal deal between President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping to allow China fish in Philippine waters, stressing that it is not only unconstitutional but also “lopsided.”

“This verbal agreement, aside from being clearly against the Constitution, is so lopsided it should be rejected by the Philippine government,” Carpio said.

The magistrate issued this statement after Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. told ANC’s “Headstart” on Wednesday that the supposed agreement is not a policy and cannot be implemented because it is “verbal,” to which Carpio has agreed.

“Secretary Locsin knows that there is no recorded minutes 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,” he said.

“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,” he added.

Pointing out how unbalanced the supposed deal is, Carpio noted the huge difference between the size of the area where Filipino and Chinese fishermen could fish.

“Reed Bank is 8,600 sq. km (square kilometer) in area, while Scarborough Shoal is only 150 sq. km. Filipinos can fish only outside the lagoon of Scarborough Shoal, not inside the lagoon which is the rich fishing area,” he said.

Aside from that, the magistrate said China can also deplete fish in Reed Bank “very quickly” because it has a large fishing fleet with huge modern trawlers compared to the wooden boats used by Filipino fishermen.

Reed Bank is within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Under the Constitution, Carpio said, “the use and enjoyment of the fish and other natural resources within Philippine EEZ is reserved exclusively for Filipinos.”

Despite the opposing remarks of Locsin and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles who also said the deal was not yet enforceable unless it is “translated formally into writing,” Malacañang insisted that the said verbal agreement is “legally binding.”

“That is the position of the President, not my position. I’m just echoing the position as a Spokesman of the President; if you cannot agree with that, eh wala tayong magagawa (we cannot do anything about it),” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.