By Ben Rosario Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio said on Monday that unless Chinese people are convinced that history books on the ownership of South China sea is false, China may not be expected to acknowledge the landmark international arbitration ruling rejecting China’s territorial claims. Acting Chief Justice Antonio T. Carpio
(JOHN JEROME GANZON / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) Speaking in a forum at the House of Representatives, Carpio said the Philippine government is also barred by the 1987 constitution from abandoning its claim and the ruling He also stressed that he sees nothing objectionable against the memorandum of understanding signed between Philippines and China in connection with the exploration of the West Philippine sea. He noted that a clause in the agreement provides that service contractors from the Philippines side will be working with their Chinese counterpart in pursuing the oil exploration. “We are saying to China that 'yes, let's cooperate but through our service contractors,” said Carpio, who is among the SC magistrates being endorsed to become the next chief justice. Carpio said the likelihood of the Chinese government agreeing to comply with the arbitral court ruling may be low until its constituents are made to understand that there is no historical basis on their claim in the disputed West Philippine sea. According to him Chinese people are being made to believe that the disputed area is indeed theirs based on alleged historical facts dating back to 2,000 years ago. "The Chinese government will not comply to the ruling until the Chinese people understand that that historical narrative is totally false," Carpio told the forum. He noted that China, in its position paper, had insisted that Chinese activities in the oil-rich territory started 2,000 years ago and that China was the first to discover and name the island and reefs there. “But that is their historical narrative,” stressed Carpio. The senior SC magistrate said the Philippines’ claim is strong as contained in the challenge against China’s territorial claims that he and other Filipino lawmakers filed before the international arbitral court on the law of the sea. The Philippines position was upheld as the international court rejected China’s territorial claims. .Carpio said the Philippines claim is backed by maps that date back to the Spanish period and that Philippines was the first to name the areas the Scarborough Shoal and the Spratlys. He belittled the maps presented by the Chinese government, saying that it only covered Hainan island. Yet, even if the Chinese is taking a tough stance in rejecting the ruling, the Philippines is also bound by the 1987 Constitution not to abandon its claim. “We cannot give up sovereign rights because the ruling says that the president has no power to waive our sovereign rights because the sovereign rights belong to the sovereign people. That is defined in the Constitution under territory,” Carpio explained. He pointed out that to do otherwise, there is a need to amend the Constitution. “It cannot even be done by Congress because our territorial rights are defined and no president could do that,” Carpio said.