Carpio warns Duterte vs defending China in SONA 2019Insisting on allowing China to fish in Philippine waters will leave Manila 'finally bound' to a lopsided deal, warns Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio
Sofia Tomacruz
Published 1:48 PM, July 12, 2019
Updated 8:33 PM, July 12, 2019
https://www.rappler.com/nation/235231-carpio-warns-duterte-vs-defending-china-sona-2019MANILA, Philippines – Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio warned President Rodrigo Duterte against using his forthcoming State of the Nation Address (SONA) to insist on allowing China to fish in Philippine waters.
Carpio said this will leave Manila "finally bound" to a lopsided fishing deal with Beijing.
"The moment he makes that statement in the SONA, it is a final confirmation that that verbal agreement is now a legal agreement binding on the Philippines and China," Carpio said on Friday, July 12, at the ADR Stratbase forum held on the 3rd anniversary of the Hague ruling.
"We are terribly at the losing end of that agreement because we are opening the entire West Philippine Sea to China's fishing fleet....It's just lopsided," he added.
Duterte earlier said he might use his 4th SONA to "educate" Filipinos about why his recent remarks on allowing Chinese fishermen to fish in Philippine waters is not a violation of the 1987 Constitution.
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